# commentaries

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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Come, see Yahweh’s works-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>As explained on :10, the prophetic intention was that the victory over Assyria and her confederacy was to lead to Judah inviting those nations to come and "see" Yahweh's works, and therefore to accept Him as their God. But Hezekiah failed miserably in thIsa.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>What desolations He has made in the earth-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>"Desolations" is the word used about the threatened judgments upon Judah (<a href='B:290 5:9'>Isa 5:9</a>; <a href='B:290 24:12'>Isa 24:12</a>; <a href='B:300 19:8'>Jer 19:8</a>). "Made" translates a Hebrew word with a wide range of meaning, translated "change" in <a href='B:100 12:20'>2Sa 12:20</a>; <a href='B:220 17:12'>Job 17:12</a>. Perhaps the idea is that the nations were to be invited to consider how the desolations threatened upon Jerusalem had been "changed"- by the repentance of a remnant. And this would have been intended to elicit repentance amongst the nations.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'>He makes wars cease to the end of the earth. He breaks the bow, and shatters the spear. He burns the chariots in the fire-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Several of the prophecies against Judah's enemies include the threat of Divine fire; it is likely that the Angel used fire to destroy the Assyrians. Remember that God makes His Angels as a flame of fire (<a href='B:230 104:4'>Psa 104:4</a>).</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations. I will be exalted in the earth-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Being still or slack is the term used in <a href='B:430 3:16'>Zep 3:16</a> for the people of Zion actively going out to war. The idea is that the Jews in Jerusalem were not to do anything, apart from trust in Yahweh. They were not to answer a word to their reproaches, but to trust in Yahweh (<a href='B:290 36:21'>Isa 36:21</a>). They were to resign all attempts at resolving the invasion in their own strength. The intention was that Israel's God would be exalted, or accepted as alone worthy of praise, in the entire eretz promised to Abraham. But Hezekiah let the ball drop. The surrounding nations came and were allowed by Hezekiah to influence Judah, rather than Hezekiah and Judah bringing these nations beneath Israel's God. He was not "exalted in the earth" as was intended and as was potentially possible.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Yahweh of Armies is with us. The God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah- See on :7, where this verse is repeated.</p><h2></h2>


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<h2>For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by the sons of Korah-</h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>"By" can as well be "for", so the Psalm may still be Davidic, but is dedicated to the memory of the sons of Korah. Korah had died in rebellion against God, but his children had been preserved (<a href='B:40 26:9-11'>Num 26:9-11</a>); they therefore became representative of all who had overcome bad background to worship Yahweh independently, regardless of the sins of their fathers. They were therefore inspirational to the righteous remnant amongst the exiles in Babylon. Or these "sons of Korah" may refer to a group of musicians who were to perform the Psalm, the Levitical singers mentioned in <a href='B:130 26:1-2'>1Ch 26:1-2</a>; <a href='B:140 20:19'>2Ch 20:19</a>. Or if we insist on reading "by", it could have been a Davidic Psalm edited and as it were released by a group called "the sons of Korah" during the captivity in Babylon.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Oh clap your hands, all you nations. Shout to God with the voice of triumph!<strong>- </strong></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This Psalm may follow on from Psalms 46, which gives glory to God for saving Zion at the time of the Assyrian invasion. The last part of that Psalm speaks of the prophetic intention that the victory over Assyria and her confederacy was to lead to Judah inviting those nations to come and "see" Yahweh's works (<a href='B:230 46:8'>Psa 46:8</a>), and therefore to accept Him as their God. But Hezekiah failed miserably in thIsa. The intention was that Israel's God would be exalted, or accepted as alone worthy of praise, in the entire eretz promised to Abraham. But Hezekiah let the ball drop. The surrounding nations came and were allowed by Hezekiah to influence Judah, rather than Hezekiah and Judah bringing these nations beneath Israel's God. He was not "exalted in the earth" as was intended (<a href='B:230 46:10'>Psa 46:10</a>) and as was potentially possible.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>But Psalms 47 emphasizes this potential. The language of shouting and clapping alludes to the salute given to a new &nbsp;king on his accession&nbsp; (<a href='B:120 11:12'>2Ki 11:12</a>; <a href='B:90 10:24'>1Sa 10:24</a>). In <a href='B:40 23:21'>Num 23:21</a>, “the shout of a king” refers to the shout celebrating Yahweh as king. The nations were intended to accept Yahweh as their new king.</p>


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<h2>For Yahweh Most High is awesome. He is a great King over all the earth-</h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>God is king over all the earth, and He was then specifically over the eretz promised to Abraham. But the peoples of the eretz still had to come to acknowledge Him as their king, and it was the prophetic intention that after the victory over Assyria, they would do so- in response to Judah's invitation to them.</p>


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<h2>He subdues nations under us, and peoples under our feet-</h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The reference is to the subduing of Assyria and the confederacy with her, after the miraculous Angelic destruction of their army. But Hezekiah never drove home the victory; Assyria continued as a nation for some time, and instead Judah submitted themselves under their gods, rather than the other way around.</p>


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<h2>He chooses our inheritance for us, the glory of Jacob whom He loved. Selah-</h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Jacob gloried in his future inheritance in the Kingdom in that he spoke of Shechem in about his last words (<a href='B:10 48:22'>Gen 48:22</a>), and wanted to buried in Canaan rather than in the opulence of Egypt. We will each have an individual future within God's Kingdom, chosen by Him, and we are to glory in that above all secular things.</p>


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<h2>God has gone up with a shout, Yahweh with the sound of a trumpet-</h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>"Gone up" suggest the ascension of the throne (as GNB). The language of shouting and trumpets&nbsp; alludes to the salute given to a new &nbsp;king on his accession&nbsp; (<a href='B:120 11:12'>2Ki 11:12</a>; <a href='B:90 10:24'>1Sa 10:24</a>). In <a href='B:40 23:21'>Num 23:21</a>, “the shout of a king” refers to the shout celebrating Yahweh as king. The nations were intended to accept Yahweh as their new king.</p>


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<h2>Sing praise to God, sing praises. Sing praises to our King, sing praises-</h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This is an appeal to the Gentile world to sing praises to "our king", Israel's King, Yahweh. It was this appeal which Hezekiah and Judah ought to have been making to the Gentiles after the rout of the Assyrians (see on :1).</p>


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<h2>For God is the King of all the earth. Sing praises with understanding-</h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The Gentiles were asked to accept Yahweh as king of the entire eretz promised to Abraham; but they were not to give lip service praise to Him, as subjected peoples typically did to the gods of the victors. They were to sing praise "with understanding". And this would require Judah to teach them- which they did not, at that time. The scenario however is rescheduled and reapplied to the final establishment of God's Kingdom in Zion at the Lord's return.</p>


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<h2>God reigns over the nations, God sits on His holy throne-</h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The throne of God is envisaged as being in Zion, and from there all the nations in the eretz (:7) were to be ruled over. This was what was intended to come about after the Assyrian defeat.</p>


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<h2>The princes of the peoples are gathered together, the people of the God of Abraham-</h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>"The peoples" apparently refer to "the nations" (:8) of the entire eretz promised to Abraham (:7). But they are "the people of the God of Abraham". Abraham rather than Jacob is mentioned because the peoples dwelling in the eretz were mainly descended from Abraham.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>For the shields of the earth belong to God. He is greatly exalted!- "Shields" is another way of referring to the "princes"; it is s:w. "ruler". The rulers of the peoples in the eretz each had their shields or banners, but they potentially all belonged to Israel's God; they were potentially His people, and the Psalm is appealing for them to actually exalt Him as their God in reality. This is what we are doing in our appeal to people today.</p><h2></h2>


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<h2>A Song. A Psalm by the sons of Korah-</h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>"By" can as well be "for", so the Psalm may still be Davidic, but is dedicated to the memory of the sons of Korah. Korah had died in rebellion against God, but his children had been preserved (<a href='B:40 26:9-11'>Num 26:9-11</a>); they therefore became representative of all who had overcome bad background to worship Yahweh independently, regardless of the sins of their fathers. They were therefore inspirational to the righteous remnant amongst the exiles in Babylon. Or these "sons of Korah" may refer to a group of musicians who were to perform the Psalm, the Levitical singers mentioned in <a href='B:130 26:1-2'>1Ch 26:1-2</a>; <a href='B:140 20:19'>2Ch 20:19</a>. Or if we insist on reading "by", it could have been a Davidic Psalm edited and as it were released by a group called "the sons of Korah" during the captivity in Babylon.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Great is Yahweh, and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, in His holy mountain-</p><h2> I suggest this Psalm may follow on from Psalms 46 and Psalms 47, which give glory to God for saving Zion at the time of the Assyrian invasion. The last part of Psalms 47 invites the surrounding nations to accept Yahweh of Israel as their God; and <a href='B:230 46:8'>Psa 46:8</a> speaks of the prophetic intention that the victory over Assyria and her confederacy was to lead to Judah inviting those nations to come and "see" Yahweh's works, and therefore to accept Him as their God. But Hezekiah failed miserably in thIsa. The intention was that Israel's God would be exalted, or accepted as alone worthy of praise, in the entire eretz promised to Abraham. But Hezekiah let the ball drop. The surrounding nations came and were allowed by Hezekiah to influence Judah, rather than Hezekiah and Judah bringing these nations beneath Israel's God. He was not "exalted in the earth" as was intended (<a href='B:230 46:10'>Psa 46:10</a>; <a href='B:230 47:8'>Psa 47:8</a>) and as was potentially possible. The intention was that the nations would come and praise God on "His holy mountain" of Zion, just as <a href='B:290 2:2-4'>Isa 2:2-4</a> had prophesied as being possible in Isaiah's time.</h2>


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<h2>Beautiful in elevation, the joy of the whole earth, is Mount Zion, on the north sides, the city of the great King-</h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Sennacherib wanted to set his throne on the temple mount (compare <a href='B:290 14:13'>Isa 14:13</a> and <a href='B:230 48:2'>Psa 48:2</a> and notice the many allusions in Psalms 48 to the raising of Sennacherib's siege of Jerusalem). But now the city of Zion was to be perceived as the joy or praise of the entire eretz promised to Abraham.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>I noted on <a href='B:230 15:1'>Psa 15:1</a> that "Yahweh, who shall dwell in Your sanctuary? Who shall live on Your holy hill?" was written before David took the hill of Zion from the Jebusites. He felt they shouldn't be living there because of how they lived so immorally, and was eager to make it his own inheritance by conquest; and it seems from <a href='B:230 16:5-6'>Psa 16:5-6</a> that David considered Zion his personal inheritance where he was to live. He considered Zion his great joy (<a href='B:230 137:6'>Psa 137:6</a>), the ultimately pleasant place (<a href='B:230 48:2'>Psa 48:2</a>).</p>


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<h2>God has shown Himself in her citadels as a refuge-</h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The entire eretz had seen that Yahweh, the God of Zion, had been a refuge there for His true people. But the Psalm was likely an edit of an earlier Psalm of David; according to <a href='B:230 72:20'>Psa 72:20</a>, this Psalm was one of David's. David sees that Yahweh will be a "high tower" or place of refuge at the day of future judgment (<a href='B:230 9:8-9'>Psa 9:8-9</a>, quoted about this in <a href='B:510 17:31'>Act 17:31</a>). But David feels God has been like this to him in this life (<a href='B:100 22:3'>2Sa 22:3</a>; <a href='B:230 18:2'>Psa 18:2</a>; <a href='B:230 46:7'>Psa 46:7</a>; <a href='B:230 48:3'>Psa 48:3</a>; <a href='B:230 59:9'>Psa 59:9</a>; <a href='B:230 59:16-17'>Psa 59:16-17</a>; <a href='B:230 62:2'>Psa 62:2</a>; <a href='B:230 94:22'>Psa 94:22</a>; <a href='B:230 144:2'>Psa 144:2</a>). He therefore sees a seamless experience in his relationship with God in this life, and at the future day of judgment. God saves us right now and is a refuge for us in countless life situations; and this is the guarantee that He will be likewise at the last day.</p>


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<h2>For, behold, the kings assembled themselves, they passed by together-</h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This is the scene of Psalms 2; the nations assembled against Zion in Hezekiah's time, in that the Assyrian army was really comprised of a confederacy of local nations, just as will be seen in the attack of the latter day Assyrian. "Passed by together" is LXX "they came together". The desire to take Zion was what unified them; and so will the Jerusalem issue for the latter day Assyrian confederacy.</p>


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<h2>They saw it, then they were amazed. They were dismayed. They hurried away-</h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This would refer to the fleeing of the remnants of the Assyrian confederacy after they saw the slaying of 185,000 soldiers in one night by one Angel.</p>


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<h2>Trembling took hold of them there, pain, as of a woman in travail-</h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The image of a woman in her time of delivery may imply that</p>


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<h2>With the east wind, You break the ships of Tarshish-</h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The idea may be as NET and GNB, which sees this verse as developing the theme of 'trembling' of :6: "like ships tossing in a furious storm". This version of the text omits the word "Tarshish". If we retain it, then we are to understand that the destruction of the enemies of Zion will include the destruction of their "ships of Tarshish". I have argued on Ezekiel 38 that Tarshish is one of the ten surrounding peoples listed in Ezekiel 38 who will come against Zion in the last days. Tarshish is therefore again demonstrated to be against Zion and not for her. This is another nail in the coffin of the idea that Tarshish refers to&nbsp; Anglo Saxon support of Israel in the last days. Tarshish is here presented as against God's people, not for them, and Ezekiel 38 says likewise.</p>


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<h2>As we have heard, so we have seen-</h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Isaiah's prophetic word came true.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>In the city of Yahweh of Armies, in the city of our God-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>There were armies of Angels within the besieged city, and just one of them slew 185,000 soldiers.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>God will establish it forever. Selah-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The eternal establishment of Zion is the language of the Kingdom prophecies. The Kingdom of God established in Israel could have come in some form at Hezekiah's time. But it was precluded by Hezekiah's personal failure, and the refusal of the people to accept Isaiah's teaching.</p>


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<h2>We have thought about Your grace, God, in the midst of Your temple-</h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This could imply that the holy place in the midst of the temple was now open to all. And there was the reflection there that Zion had been saved by grace- because Judah were not at all spiritually strong at the time of her deliverance.</p>


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<h2>As is Your name, God, so is Your praise to the ends of the earth. Your right hand is full of righteousness-</h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>God's right hand had judged the Assyrians, and His Name or reputation was rightly earned; the news of Him was true, and the ends of the eretz, including Babylon, had heard correctly about Him. Hence their ambassadors came to Hezekiah. But instead of leading them to accept Israel's God, Hezekiah failed.</p>


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<h2>Let Mount Zion be glad! Let the daughters of Judah rejoice because of Your judgments-</h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The daughters of Judah would refer to the cities around Jerusalem which had fallen to the Assyrians but were now liberated.</p>


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<h2>Walk about Zion, and go around her. Number its towers-</h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Literally, "encircle it". It was the Assyrians who had encircled Jerusalem. It was their military commanders who had numbered her towers as they planned their assault (<a href='B:290 33:18'>Isa 33:18</a>). Instead, the believers were to as it were do the same, assessing Zion's defences- and as explained on :13, to conclude that her defence was in her God and His grace.</p>


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<h2>Mark well her bulwarks-</h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Or NET "defences". This then connects with :14 NET: "Our God is our defender for ever". Zion's defence was Yahweh. And the Psalm invites us to "mark well" what her defence was- her God.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Consider her palaces, that you may tell it to the next generation-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>"Palaces" is NET "fortresses", but the strong tower, or fortress, of Zion was her God.</p>


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<h2>For this God is our God forever and ever. He will be our guide even to death- See on :13. "Guide" is a military term for leading forth an army. Judah never fought against the Assyrians; but spiritually they were led forth as an army of faith by God:&nbsp;</h2><h2></h2>


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<h2>For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by the sons of Korah-</h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>"By" can as well be "for", so the Psalm may still be Davidic, but is dedicated to the memory of the sons of Korah. Korah had died in rebellion against God, but his children had been preserved (<a href='B:40 26:9-11'>Num 26:9-11</a>); they therefore became representative of all who had overcome bad background to worship Yahweh independently, regardless of the sins of their fathers. They were therefore inspirational to the righteous remnant amongst the exiles in Babylon. Or these "sons of Korah" may refer to a group of musicians who were to perform the Psalm, the Levitical singers mentioned in <a href='B:130 26:1-2'>1Ch 26:1-2</a>; <a href='B:140 20:19'>2Ch 20:19</a>. Or if we insist on reading "by", it could have been a Davidic Psalm edited and as it were released by a group called "the sons of Korah" during the captivity in Babylon.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Hear this, all you peoples. Listen, all you inhabitants of the world-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>David, or whoever the Psalmist was who used his Psalm, was interested in appealing not just to Israel but to the Gentiles. The message of rejection of materialism was to be presented to them too. The moral teachings of the true God were and are attractive to secular Gentiles.</p>


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<h2>both low and high, rich and poor together-</h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Trust in wealth and materialism, which this Psalm addresses, is a problem not just for the wealthy but in fact for all of society, including the poor.</p>


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<h2>My mouth will speak words of wisdom, my heart shall utter understanding-</h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This appears to be a claim to direct Divine inspiration in the truths about materialism which are now to be sung about.</p>


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<h2>I will bend my ear to a proverb, I will open my riddle on the harp-</h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>It seems that :1-4 are an introduction, and the song begins from :5 onwards. The mention of the harp reminds us that the Psalm at least originated in David (<a href='B:230 72:20'>Psa 72:20</a>). But as noted on :1, the Psalm may have been directed to the exiles in Babylon, who were tempted towards materialism. Their wealth, hinted at in the conclusion of the book of Esther, was what likely stopped the majority from obeying the call to return to the land and rebuild God's Kingdom there on the ruins left from the Babylonian invasion.</p>


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<h2>Why should I fear in the days of evil, when iniquity barks at my heels, surrounding me?- </h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>If we read "days" as an intensive plural, the idea would be that a great day of evil is coming upon "me", all of us, when sin finally catches up with us like a dog barking at our heels, and we must die. In that day, wealth cannot save us- that is the theme to be developed now throughout the Psalm.</p>


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<h2>Those who trust in their wealth and boast in the multitude of their riches-</h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The Lord and Paul appear to allude here in saying that those who trust in riches will find entrance to the Kingdom very hard (<a href='B:480 10:24'>Mar 10:24</a>; <a href='B:610 6:17'>1Ti 6:17</a>).</p>


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<h2>none of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give God a ransom for him-</h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>We may well ask as to why the Psalm doesn't simply say that the wealthy cannot save themselves from death. But instead the angle taken is that they cannot redeem their brother from death. The reason perhaps is to raise the suggestion that there is in fact a redeemer who can redeem his brother, but not by wealth. David would have understood that redeemer as God, but in reality His redemptive work was to be achieved in His Son, whose redeeming blood is far more costly than secular wealth (<a href='B:670 1:18-19'>1Pe 1:18-19</a>). We note that this redemption therefore is for His brothers rather than universal.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The language of redeeming life with money is based upon the law's regulations that in some cases, such as if an ox gored a man to death, the guilty party could pay money to avoid the death penalty (<a href='B:20 21:30'>Exo 21:30</a>; <a href='B:40 35:31'>Num 35:31</a>). This seems to be in view, because the same language is used. But the point is that ultimately, death itself is inevitable and cannot be staved off by money. And perhaps the idea is that the offender personally had to pay from their own money, and no relative could pay for them. Whereas the redemption God could and would provide was for others, because we simply cannot pay ourselves.</p>


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<h2>For the redemption of their life is costly, no payment is ever enough-</h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>A temporary stay of execution for money is one thing (see on :7). But no payment can ultimately redeem a person from death itself. This recognition of utter bankruptcy in the face of death was being used by the Psalmist to appeal even to Gentiles (see on :1), because awareness of this is a subconscious truth for all men. The Davidic origin of the Psalm is indicated by the way that Saul used the same phrase of David's saving of his life: "My soul was precious in your eyes" [s:w. "life is costly"] (<a href='B:90 26:21'>1Sa 26:21</a>). David is alluding to this; Saul's human life had been precious or costly to him, but he was unable to redeem Saul eternally. Only God could do that, if Saul by faith accepted God's grace. David wished that Solomon would have the same perspective, considering the soul or life of people to be "precious" or "costly" (<a href='B:230 72:14'>Psa 72:14</a>). But sadly Solomon abused his people later, as it were whipping them with whiPsa. In the restoration context, God appreciated the preciousness of the soul or life of His people, and offered to eternally redeem them (s:w. <a href='B:290 43:4'>Isa 43:4</a>). See on :15.</p>


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<h2>that he should live on forever, that he should not see corruption-</h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>David clearly saw death as "corruption" and as the cessation of life. Unlike many around him at the time, he rejected the idea of an immortal soul and conscious survival of death.</p>


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<h2>For He sees that wise men die; likewise the fool and the senseless perish, and leave their wealth to others-</h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>It is secular wisdom which is in view; for these apparently wise men still have the same basic human assumption that they will somehow survive death (:11).</p>


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<h2>Their inward thought is that their houses will endure forever, and their dwelling places to all generations. They name their lands after themselves-</h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This is profound psychological insight into how the unspoken, subconscious assumption is that somehow, we will exist beyond death; and our wealth and secular achievement can guarantee thIsa. It is this subconscious eagerness to believe this which explains the huge popularity of the false doctrine of an immortal soul in most religions. And this is why the hard truths of the Bible in this area are unpopular. Even if we are in some form remembered for a few millennia- this too shall pass. And death remains death. Only Divine redemption can change thIsa.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>We may well enquire how David thought he knew the state of heart [AV "inward part"] of his enemies and wealthy people (<a href='B:230 5:9'>Psa 5:9</a>; <a href='B:230 36:1'>Psa 36:1</a>; <a href='B:230 49:11'>Psa 49:11</a>; <a href='B:230 62:4'>Psa 62:4</a>; <a href='B:230 64:6'>Psa 64:6</a>). Perhaps it was a result of his reflection upon how he had only had a right spirit or heart given by God "within" him as a result of his repentance (<a href='B:230 51:10'>Psa 51:10</a> s:w:). His enemies were impenitent, and so perhaps on that basis he knew what was in their hearts. Or this may simply have been the result of Divine inspiration (see on :3).</p>


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<h2>But man, despite his riches, doesn’t endure. He is like the animals that perish-</h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>See on :11. We could not wish for a clearer statement of conditional immortality and a denial of the immortal soul concept. This sublime truth is repeated twice in this Psalm (:12,20). And remember that is it being used in order to preach good news to Gentiles (:1). Likewise in Isaiah 40, the good news is that "all flesh is as grass". For those fearing immortal torment after death, this was in a sense good news; but the true good news is that if we accept this truth, then we can turn to God for the redemption intimated in :8. This theological attack on the immortal soul concept was relevant for the exiles, who were tending to accept the Babylonian theology on these issues, and thus lose their focus upon the final day of Israel's Hope as the resurrection of the dead.</p>


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<h2>This is the destiny of those who are foolish, and of those who approve their sayings. Selah-</h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The "wise" of :10 are hereby declared fools. As are all who look to the wealthy as wise. The readership of "follow my example to get rich" books is huge. But this is presented as approving foolishness. Sin is associated by God with utter and derisible foolishness (e:g. <a href='B:40 12:11'>Num 12:11</a>; <a href='B:620 3:9'>2Ti 3:9</a>); but this isn't how man in his unwisdom perceives it at all. Indeed, to him self-denial is inexplicable folly and blindness to the essentials of human existence:&nbsp; The folly of sin is only fully evident to God.</p>


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<h2>They are appointed as a flock for Sheol. Death shall be their shepherd-</h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The implication is that they are experiencing a living death, they are following the shepherd "death" to an eternal grave. The implication as noted on :8 is that there is another shepherd and another flock- leading to life.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The upright shall have dominion over them in the morning. Their beauty shall decay in Sheol, far from their mansions-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Again we have the implication (see on :8) that the tragedy of eternal death need not be so for all. "The upright" will reappear "in the morning". A morning is coming- for the upright. The day of resurrection from the dead to eternal life.</p>


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<h2>But God will redeem my soul from the power of Sheol, for He will receive me. Selah-</h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>David here states clearly that although no man can redeem his brother, nor himself, yet God can. God is therefore presented as a redeemer, an understanding to be articulated through the future work of His Son. "Receive" is the same word translated "carry away" in :17. Secular man carries nothing away from this life, ultimately. But God carries away His people, although they are unconscious; they are in His care, and shall be revived again at the resurrection. In this life, David felt his prayers had been "received" (s:w. <a href='B:230 6:9'>Psa 6:9</a>). His experience of answered prayer was therefore a foretaste of his faith that God would finally receive or accept him (<a href='B:230 49:15'>Psa 49:15</a>; <a href='B:230 73:24'>Psa 73:24</a> s:w:).</p>


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<h2>Don’t be afraid when a man is made rich, when the glory of his house is increased-</h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Why does secular man fear when others become rich? Because they fear that actually the materialistic dream will not in fact be true for them. They consider that wealth is a kind of lottery- if another man wins it, then there's less chance we shall win it. Again we have a powerful insight into modern day psychology when it comes to wealth. These ancient words are intensely, bitingly relevant to modern man- in a way that only Divinely inspired words could be.</p>


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<h2>For when he dies he shall carry nothing away; his glory shall not descend after him-</h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>It was common in Egypt and Babylon to bury a man's wealth with him. His glory did descend after him- but he could not carry it away anywhere. For death is total unconsciousness.</p>


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<h2>Though while he lived he blessed his soul-</h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'> and men praise you when you do well for yourself-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This again is an observation so true to life. Spend a fortune on an expensive cruise- and you will be praised by your neighbours. The wealthy and successful become the pinups of the poor. The wealthy congratulate themselves on their wealth, and are congratulated by others. But the perceptive minority will see through this, and it is to these people worldwide (see on :1) that the Psalm / song is addressed.</p>


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<h2>he shall go to the generation of his fathers. They shall never see the light-</h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The Psalm is addressing Gentiles (:1), who would not be resurrected as they are not responsible to Divine judgment. Yet they were being offered the opportunity of redemption from death, if they accepted the good news of Israel's God and His covenant.</p>


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<h2>A man who has riches without understanding is like the animals that perish- </h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>We could not wish for a clearer statement of conditional immortality and a denial of the immortal soul concept. This sublime truth is repeated twice in this Psalm (:12,20). And remember that is it being used in order to preach good news to Gentiles (:1). Likewise in Isa. 40, the good news is that "all flesh is as grass". For those fearing immortal torment after death, this was in a sense good news; but the true good news is that if we accept this truth, then we can turn to God for the redemption intimated in :8. This theological attack on the immortal soul concept was relevant for the exiles, who were tending to accept the Babylonian theology on these issues, and thus lose their focus upon the final day of Israel's Hope as the resurrection of the dead.</p><h2></h2>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'>A Psalm by Asaph-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'> Although all of Psalms 1-72 were by David (<a href='B:230 72:20'>Psa 72:20</a>), it seems they were rewritten and edited, under inspiration, for use in later contexts. This "Asaph" could be the Asaph of Hezekiah's time (<a href='B:290 36:3'>Isa 36:3</a>) who used the Psalms in the context of the events of the Assyrian invasion. The Asaph Psalms all have parts in them relevant to that context (Psalms 50, 73-83). Or the "Asaph" may have been the singers who were relatives of Asaph, prominent at the restoration (<a href='B:160 7:44'>Neh 7:44</a>; <a href='B:160 11:17'>Neh 11:17</a>; <a href='B:160 11:22'>Neh 11:22</a>). It could mean that the psalms were a part of a collection from the Asaphites, and the name "Asaph" was therefore simply used to identify the temple singers. And again, parts of the Asaph psalms also have relevance to the restoration. But Asaph was the "chief" of the Levites to whom David assigned the ministry of praise before the ark (<a href='B:130 16:4-5'>1Ch 16:4-5</a>). It seems he did compose his own Psalms, which were used by Hezekiah at his time (<a href='B:140 29:30'>2Ch 29:30</a>). So I would again suggest that all the Asaph Psalms were composed originally by David "for" [not necessarily "by"] Asaph, but were rewritten and edited for later occasions.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>However there is a clear linkage between Psalms 50, 51. The language about God not wanting sacrifice is clearly related (<a href='B:230 50:8'>Psa 50:8</a> = <a href='B:230 51:16-17'>Psa 51:16-17</a>). The Psalm is a threat of judgment upon God's people, but clearly it is relevant to David. There is a structural connection between the Psalms:</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>A 50:1–6 About sacrifice and Zion</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>B 50:7–15 Deliverance and sacrifice</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>C 50:16–21 The rebuke</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>D 50:22–23 The call to repent given judgment to come</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>E 51:1 The appearance of Nathan to condemn David</p>&nbsp;<p style='margin-left:1:415em'>D 51:1–2 An appeal to God's grace</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>C 51:3–9 Confession</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>B 51:10–17 About sacrifice and deliverance</p>&nbsp;<p style='margin-left:1:415em'>A 51:18–19 About sacrifice and Zion.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The Mighty One, God, Yahweh, speaks, and calls the earth from sunrise to sunset-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The chapter is about judgment; God "speaks and summons the earth" (ESV) from east to west. The call or summons is to judge His people from wherever they are (:4). And they need to prepare for that judgment and act appropriately.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God shines forth-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The implication is that the judgment happens at Zion, the place of God's throne, when His glory will visibly shine forth from it.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Our God comes, and does not keep silent. A fire devours before Him, it is very stormy around Him-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The Psalmists often complain that God 'keeps silent'. But finally He will "come", with all the fire and wind associated with His previous theophanies.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'>He calls to the heavens above, to the earth, that He may judge His people-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The call to judgment is for those who are responsible to God, Israel "His people" (:5). The calling to heavens and earth may refer to how His judgments of His people affect both those in the ruling classes ("heavens") as well as the ordinary people ("earth"). This is exactly the language of <a href='B:290 1:2'>Isa 1:2</a>, where the heavens and earth of Judah are called to judgment.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Gather My saints together to Me, those who have made a covenant with Me by sacrifice-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>"Saints" doesn't have to imply 'holy ones' in the sense of righteous ones; it is simply the title for God's separated out people, Israel (<a href='B:20 19:6'>Exo 19:6</a>; <a href='B:230 79:2'>Psa 79:2</a>; <a href='B:230 85:8'>Psa 85:8</a>). And there is much negative to say about them in :7-15. They are perhaps "saints" only in that God has imputed righteousness to them. The old covenant appears to be the covenant in view, for that was dependent upon Israel's offering of sacrifice for inauguration (<a href='B:20 24:3-8'>Exo 24:3-8</a>; <a href='B:650 9:18'>Heb 9:18</a>). The new covenant, based upon the promises to Abraham, was a promise of salvation by God's unilateral grace; it didn't require sacrifice by Abraham for it to come into effect. The offering of the Lord's body was to confirm that covenant, to commend it to us; it was not of itself required for the covenant of grace to be made with Abraham.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The heavens shall declare His righteousness, for God Himself is judge. Selah-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>There could be no doubt that the judgment of Israel was just / righteousness; the whole heaven and earth declare that God is a just judge.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Hear, My people, and I will speak; Israel, and I will testify against you. I am God, your God-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This appeal to "My people" appears in contrast to the address to the "wicked" in :16. But the condemnation of "the wicked" in :16-23 is appropriate to those who are within Israel and responsible to God. So it could be that the section from :7-15 is addressed to the weak but potentially spiritual within God's people, His true Israel; whereas :16-23 is to those in Israel who had totally turned away from Yahweh.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'>I don’t rebuke you for your sacrifices. Your burnt offerings are continually before Me-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Although this is a Psalm of Asaph (:1), it may well have been a rewrite of one of David's psalms. The allusion is to how after his sin with Bathsheba, David perceived that God didn't require bulls and goats, but rather the sacrifice of&nbsp; contrite heart (<a href='B:230 51:16-17'>Psa 51:16-17</a>). See on :1. David had been open to Nathan's "rebuke" (s:w. <a href='B:230 6:1'>Psa 6:1</a>; <a href='B:230 38:1'>Psa 38:1</a>; <a href='B:230 141:5'>Psa 141:5</a>), which was not given in God's anger so much as in His appeal for David to accept His grace.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'>I have no need for a bull from your stall, nor male goats from your pens-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This connects with the teaching in the following Psalm, that God didn't require sacrifice from David for his sins, but rather a broken and humbled heart (<a href='B:230 51:16-17'>Psa 51:16-17</a>). It would seem therefore that this Psalm originated with David, although it may have been edited subsequently. This was comfort for the exiles, who would have been unable to offer sacrifice away from the temple. God didn't want sacrifice, essentially. But rather trust in His ability to forgive and restore, after the pattern of David's experience.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'>For every animal of the forest is Mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>God apparently is not a fan of 'sacrifice' because humans inevitably think that they are giving God something; it suggests that man owns things which God doesn't. David therefore says that all the sacrifices and gifts for the temple were in fact only giving God what He had already given to the 'donors' (<a href='B:130 29:16'>1Ch 29:16</a>); thus all apparent generosity to God is only a giving back to Him of what He already knows.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'>I know all the birds of the mountains. The wild animals of the field are Mine-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>God not only owns the wild birds, but knows them. Wild animals are typically used as representative of Israel's enemies; and these too are known and owned by Him.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'>If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world is Mine, and all that is in it-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The fact that "the earth is the Lord's" is used to highlight the wonder of the fact that therefore how much moreso do His people belong to Him, and are cared for by Him with such sensitivity (<a href='B:20 19:5'>Exo 19:5</a>; <a href='B:50 10:14'>Deu 10:14</a>; <a href='B:230 50:12'>Psa 50:12</a>; <a href='B:230 89:11'>Psa 89:11</a>). Just as the eretz / earth / land promised to Abraham is Yahweh's, so is in fact the entire planet (<a href='B:230 24:1'>Psa 24:1</a>), and His purpose was perceived by David as incorporating the entire planet and not just Israel. The argument here continues that God is not "hungry" for ritualistic obedience, but for His people to be spiritually minded, praising Him and trusting in Him (:14,15). The Father's hunger was reflected in the hunger of His Son for fruit on the fig tree (<a href='B:470 21:18'>Mat 21:18</a>). Even if it were immature fruit, His hunger was such that He would have accepted it. But instead He found only leaves, the appearance of spiritual fruit, but no reality.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Will I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats?<strong>- </strong></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>As explained on :12, the Father's hunger is not for flesh and blood, but for spirituality. Such flesh and blood was indeed offered to God but He found it an irritation, for it was not a reflection of spirituality (<a href='B:290 65:5'>Isa 65:5</a>; <a href='B:370 4:4'>Amo 4:4</a> and often in the prophets). God was not a pagan deity, placated by flesh and blood.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Offer to God the sacrifice of thanksgiving, pay your vows to the Most High-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Heartfelt praise was what God hungered for (:12), not ritualistic sacrifice. To this day, He is thrilled by from the heart thanksgiving, and actions of gratitude for what He has done ["pay your vows"].</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Call on Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honour Me-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The intention of David's Psalms were to share his experience of God's grace and salvation with others. It was David who had been answered in his 'days of trouble', and set on high (<a href='B:230 20:1'>Psa 20:1</a>). His desire was fulfilled- for this verse of the Psalm clearly was reapplied to the "day of trouble" of the Assyrian invasion (s:w. <a href='B:290 37:3'>Isa 37:3</a>) and also to the Babylonian traumas of the exiles (s:w. <a href='B:300 16:19'>Jer 16:19</a>; <a href='B:300 30:7'>Jer 30:7</a>; <a href='B:410 1:7'>Nah 1:7</a>; <a href='B:420 3:16'>Hab 3:16</a>). See on <a href='B:20 25:8'>Exo 25:8</a>. God didn't want sacrifice as much as He wanted faith in His promise of deliverance.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'>But to the wicked God says, What right do you have to declare My statutes and to have taken My covenant on your lips-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The appeal to "My people" in :7-15 appears in contrast to this address to the "wicked" in :16. But the condemnation of "the wicked" in :16-23 is appropriate to those who are within Israel and responsible to God, having taken His covenant onto their liPsa. So it could be that the section from :7-15 is addressed to the weak but potentially spiritual within God's people, His true Israel; whereas :16-23 is to those in Israel who had totally turned away from Yahweh.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'>since you hate instruction-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Solomon later accuses any who refuse his Proverbs of doing just this, hating instruction, which here in <a href='B:230 50:17'>Psa 50:17</a> means 'You are condemned' (s:w. <a href='B:240 5:12'>Pro 5:12</a>; <a href='B:240 12:1'>Pro 12:1</a>; <a href='B:240 15:10'>Pro 15:10</a>).</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>And throw My words behind you?<strong>- </strong></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Nobody would have said they did that to God's words. But here we have an example of where God interprets human attitudes for what they are in practice. But we must sound a caveat- we can too quickly say that 'Because you said A, therefore, that means B'. And often we are wrong. But God has the right and ability to judge in this way.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'>When you saw a thief, you consented with him, and have participated with adulterers-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This is not to teach guilt by association; for the Lord ate with sinners in order to bring them to Himself. But 'consenting with' a thief is paralleled with committing the same sin as adulterers. The idea is that by mixing with such company, what begins with consenting to their behaviour leads men to actually commit the sins of those they consort and consent with. "Consent" is the word for approval, delighting in, agreement with (s:w. <a href='B:230 49:13'>Psa 49:13</a>). We may begin by vicariously approving the behaviour of sinners and mixing with them, and this will lead us into committing their sins. Perhaps the parallel between theft and adultery is because adultery is a form of theft.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'>You give your mouth to evil, your tongue frames deceit-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This is an example of how the final judgment will involve God giving people flashbacks from their lives (see on :21). But the present tense is used, because they were impenitent, and therefore in essence continue in those positions right up to judgment day.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'>You sit and speak against your brother, you slander your own mother’s son-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This example of a flashback at the day of judgment (see on :21) involves the virtual photograph of a man sitting and speaking slander against his brother. The body language and circumstance is recorded. On <a href='B:230 51:5'>Psa 51:5</a> I suggest that this may in fact be a rebuke of David having slandered his own brother.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'>You have done these things, and I kept silent. You thought that I was just like you. I will rebuke you, and accuse you in front of your eyes-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>I suggested on :1 and <a href='B:230 51:5'>Psa 51:5</a> that Psalms 50 is judgment directed at David. This verse would therefore in that context speak to God's apparent silence after David's sin, and then rebuking and accusing him through Nathan:&nbsp;</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>In a more general sense, the day of judgment will be a face to face meeting between God and man, with flashbacks of human life provided to those who are to be condemned. We tend to see ourselves as little sinners, just a fraction over the line, we come to the end of the day with no real sense of having offended God, no sense of how deeply sin and indifference hurts Him. Perhaps we see God as altogether too human, like us not very shocked at habitual sin, comfortably numb to the fact that sinful thoughts really are as bad as the action. God's words to Israel are so relevant to us, living in a world where sin means nothing, and where God never openly intervenes in judgment. And it can be that we also lack the faith, or perhaps the concentration and reflection, to meditate on the actual reality of sin forgiven that we have experienced in Christ. Our temptation is to think that God sees things as we see them, to think that God is merely an ideal human being. But the day of judgment will reveal otherwise (<a href='B:230 50:21'>Psa 50:21</a>). He is God, not man. It is not for us to set the terms. As the Lord taught in His parable of the approaching army, it's either total, abject surrender before the King of Heaven, accepting whatever terms He asks, or a foolhardy attempt to meet Him in head on confrontation (<a href='B:490 14:31'>Luk 14:31</a>). Those who challenge the harder side of God are often called 'brave'; but their 'bravery' is foolhardy rebellion against the sovereign Almighty.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Now consider this, you who forget God, lest I tear you into pieces, and there be none to deliver-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The deliverer was God (:15). But He would not do this if they forgot Him. The threat of tearing to pieces uses a term especially relevant to lions (<a href='B:230 17:12'>Psa 17:12</a>; <a href='B:230 22:13'>Psa 22:13</a>), a symbol of Judah's later enemies (<a href='B:300 5:6'>Jer 5:6</a> s:w:), who would be used by God to inflict such tearing into pieces (<a href='B:350 5:14'>Hos 5:14</a>; <a href='B:350 6:1'>Hos 6:1</a> s:w:).</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Whoever offers the sacrifice of thanksgiving glorifies Me, and prepares his way so that I will show God’s salvation to him- God is not practicing universal salvation. His salvation, Yehoshua, Jesus, is to those who prepare their way to desire it. Heartfelt praise was what God hungered for (:12), not ritualistic sacrifice. To this day, He is thrilled by from the heart thanksgiving, and actions of gratitude for what He has done ["pay your vows", :14].</p><h2></h2>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'>For the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet came to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>It is amazing how sudden David's proper repentance seems to have come. There is no reason to be unduly afraid of a sudden, emotional confession of sin, prompted by a certain circumstance, as David's was by Nathan's parable. Psalms 51 may well have been prayed but moments after Nathan finished his parable. And Psalms 32, describing the joy of David's repentance, would have followed soon after. The Psalms are several times presented in pairs which are related to each other; and Psalms 50, 51 are certainly connected.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The language about God not wanting sacrifice is clearly related (<a href='B:230 50:8'>Psa 50:8</a> = <a href='B:230 51:16-17'>Psa 51:16-17</a>). The Psalm is a threat of judgment upon God's people, but clearly it is relevant to David. There is a structural connection between the Psalms:</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>A 50:1–6 About sacrifice and Zion</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>B 50:7–15 Deliverance and sacrifice</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>C 50:16–21 The rebuke</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>D 50:22–23 The call to repent given judgment to come</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>E 51:1 The appearance of Nathan to condemn David</p>&nbsp;<p style='margin-left:1:415em'>D 51:1–2 An appeal to God's grace</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>C 51:3–9 Confession</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>B 51:10–17 About sacrifice and deliverance</p>&nbsp;<p style='margin-left:1:415em'>A 51:18–19 About sacrifice and Zion.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Have mercy on me, God, according to Your grace. According to the multitude of Your tender mercies, blot out my transgressions-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Mercies and truth are often references to the promises to Abraham- to bless his seed with forgiveness of sins (<a href='B:510 3:25-26'>Act 3:25-26</a>). Like us, in crises we are thrown back upon the basics of our faith. The promises to Abraham which re the basis of the new covenant. It is noteworthy that Peter appeals to Israel to repent and be converted “that your sins may be blotted out” (<a href='B:510 3:19'>Act 3:19</a>)- quoting the words of <a href='B:230 51:1'>Psa 51:1</a>, where the sin of David with Bathsheba is ‘blotted out’ after his repentance and conversion. Each sinner who repents and is baptized and leads the life of ongoing conversion is therefore living out the pattern of David’s repentance:&nbsp;“Have mercy on me, O God</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>” is quoted by the publican in <a href='B:490 18:13'>Luk 18:13</a>. He felt that David’s prayer and situation was to be hIsa. And he is held up as the example for each of us:&nbsp;</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>David’s experience of God’s grace stayed with him when he faced up to the results of his errors in the future, too. From experience, he can ask to fall into the Lord’s hand rather than man’s, because “his mercies are great” (<a href='B:100 24:14'>2Sa 24:14</a>)- using the same two Hebrew words he had used when Nathan came to him here in <a href='B:230 51:1'>Psa 51:1</a> AV: “Have mercy upon me</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'> according unto the multitude [Heb. ‘greatness’] of thy tender mercies”. And so the experience of God’s gracious mercy over one sin fortifies us to believe in His grace when, sadly, we fall again; although, in passing, I think that in 2 Samuel 24, David himself didn’t really do so much wrong. Yet he perceived himself to have sinned, so the point is still established:&nbsp;</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>We find the Psalms so often expressing David’s intense anger- even to the extent of contradicting his other more gracious statements about people, and also being at variance with his own beggings for mercy and grace at the time of his sin with Bathsheba. Consider “Hold them guilty, O God; Let them fall by their own counsels; Thrust them out in the multitude of their transgressions; For they have rebelled against thee” (<a href='B:230 5:10'>Psa 5:10</a>). Yet David has to use these very words about himself in <a href='B:230 51:1'>Psa 51:1</a> when he pleads with God to be merciful to him:&nbsp; David’s ‘imprecatory Psalms’, in which he asks for bloodcurdling judgments upon his enemies, are hard to justify in the light of Christ’s teachings. They appear to be a continuation of the moments of bitterness, anger and brutality which we saw in the above mentioned historical examples.</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, cleanse me from my sin-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This in New Testament terms would equate with the desire to be washed and regenerated in baptism. "The washing of regeneration" (<a href='B:630 3:5'>Tit 3:5</a>) may allude here. The Mosaic rituals required sinners or unclean persons to wash themselves, and to cleanse themselves of uncleanness through performing rituals; but David moves closer to the understanding of grace by realizing that he has to ask God to wash him. For there was no help for him in any of the Mosaic rituals, given the nature of his sins. This need for washing from sin is relevant to Judah in their later sinfulness (s:w. <a href='B:300 4:14'>Jer 4:14</a>). Israel were to be encouraged by David's experience that they coild receive "plenteous" redemption (<a href='B:230 130:7'>Psa 130:7</a>; s:w. "wash me thoroughly from my iniquity" in <a href='B:230 51:2'>Psa 51:2</a>), and be "abundantly pardonned" (s:w. <a href='B:290 55:7'>Isa 55:7</a>).</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'>For I acknowledge my transgressions-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This very phrase was used by David in insisting that he did not acknowledge any transgression in him whilst in exile from Saul (<a href='B:90 24:11'>1Sa 24:11</a>). What he said and felt then may have been relatively true, compared to the unspirituality of Saul and the false accusations against him. But perhaps there was an element of the overly self righteous in his words, and the sin with Bathsheba made him realize thIsa. It is the same phrase which is as it were put in the mouth of the repentant exiles in <a href='B:290 59:12'>Isa 59:12</a>; they were intended to follow David's path of repentance.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>My sin is constantly before me-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'> David's confession of sin in <a href='B:230 51:3-4'>Psa 51:3-4</a> is packed with Job allusions; as if Job's physical trials brought about the same effect as David's full recognition of his sin. The extent of his sorrow is heavily stressed: "My sorrow is continually before me::. my sin is ever before me" (<a href='B:230 38:17'>Psa 38:17</a>; <a href='B:230 51:3'>Psa 51:3</a> AV). How much sorrow is there for our sins? Have the years mellowed our terror at sin? Things which once appalled us can so easily become sins of habit, the real sorrow we once experienced on committing them can be watered down to just a vague tickle of conscience. The significance of David's sin and repentance being held up as an example of our own should be a good antidote against such problems. The chilling thing is, despite all this awareness of his sin during the nine month period, when he was told the parable by Nathan- he just didn’t fully see it. Every part of the story had such relevant application, but David was blinded to it. He knew he had sinned, but this was only on a surface level. “Thou art the man” was still news to him. “I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek thy servant; for I do not forget thy commandments” (<a href='B:230 119:176'>Psa 119:176</a>) was likely rewritten by David with his mind on his follies relating to Bathsheba. The point, is in the ‘lost’ state, he still remembered the commandments. He didn’t turn his back on God; and neither do we, in our semi-spiritual unspirituality. We can likewise be blinded to true, personal understanding of God’s message because of our refusal to truly repent. Corinth and the Hebrews could not understand the strong meat of the word because they were divided; their divisiveness hindered their understanding. Husbands and wives find their prayers hindered unless they are themselves united:&nbsp;</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>I have noted on :1 and :5 that Psalms 51 is presented as David's response to the message of general judgment in Psalms 50. The connection here is to <a href='B:230 50:8'>Psa 50:8</a>, where God says that He doesn't ask for sacrifices to be "constantly before Me" (s:w:). David realizes that. What God wants is for us to have constantly before us a realization of His grace and our position as sinners before Him.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Against You, and You only, have I sinned-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Perhaps David uses the idea of "only" in the sense of "You above all", for he had sinned against Bathsheba, Uriah and other related parties. Or more negatively, we could wonder whether again he is limiting his recognition of sin, by reasoning that he had not sinned against Uriah since he was dead, nor against Bathsheba in that David [wrongly] counted her as equally culpable.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>And done that which is evil in Your sight; that You may be proved right when You speak, and justified when You judge-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>He recognized that God works through our sinfulness- he is effectively saying 'I sinned so that You might be justified:::'. These words are quoted in <a href='B:520 3:4-5'>Rom 3:4-5</a> in the context of Paul's exultation that "our unrighteousness commends the righteousness of God"- in just the same way as David's did! Because God displays His righteousness every time He justifies a repentant sinner, He is in a sense making Himself yet more righteous. We must see things from God's perspective, from the standpoint of giving glory to God's righteous attributes. If we do this, then we can see through the ugliness of sin, and come to terms with our transgressions the more effectively. And Paul quotes David's sin with Bathsheba as our supreme example in thIsa. We along with all the righteous ought to “shout for joy” that David really was forgiven (<a href='B:230 32:11'>Psa 32:11</a>)- for there is such hope for us now. David is our example. And yet the intensity of David’s repentance must be ours. He hung his head as one in whose mouth there were no more arguments, hoping only in the Lord’s grace (<a href='B:230 38:14'>Psa 38:14</a> RVmg:). Notice too how <a href='B:230 51:1'>Psa 51:1</a> “Have mercy on me, O God</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>” is quoted by the publican in <a href='B:490 18:13'>Luk 18:13</a>. He felt that David’s prayer and situation was to be hIsa. And he is held up as the example for each of us:&nbsp;</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>David was very conscious that his sin had been "in Your (God's) sight" (<a href='B:230 51:4'>Psa 51:4</a>). The psalms of repentance have several examples of him talking like thIsa. It may be to this Davidic theme that the parable of the prodigal son (i:e. each of us) refers: "I have sinned::. in Your sight" (<a href='B:490 15:18'>Luk 15:18</a>; <a href='B:490 15:21'>Luk 15:21</a>). It is significant that our Lord's supreme parable of repentance refers back to that of David. It has been observed that there are many connections between the Psalms related to the Bathsheba incident, and those which are especially prophetic of Christ's crucifixion. David's intense suffering on account of sin was therefore prophetic of our Lord's mental and physical suffering for the same reason. He there felt as a condemned sinner, whilst personally spotless, because of the depth of His identification with sinful man. It is truly breathtaking to discern how God works through our sins, to the extent that through the struggle for repentance which they engender, they can associate us with the sufferings of His sinless Son:&nbsp;</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>In <a href='B:520 3:4'>Rom 3:4</a>, Paul speaks of how God will “overcome when You are brought to judgment [Gk:]”. “Overcome” is the legal word for winning a case in court. It is our doubts as to the extent of God’s grace, that He abides faithful even throughout our unfaithfulness, which is effectively our bringing God to court, to judgment. Paul is here quoting <a href='B:230 51:4'>Psa 51:4</a>, which were David’s words of reflection upon his sin unto death, and God’s forgiveness of him. He reflected that he had sinned so that God might be justified when He is brought to judgment by us. Again we are up against an amazing grace. God uses our sin, our doubt of His forgiveness, in order to declare Himself yet more righteous when He is put in the dock to answer against our false charges: ‘Is He really able to forgive me that? Will He really not hold this eternally against me? Will I really be saved, sinner that I am? Can God really accept me after what I have done, all I have failed to do as I should, all I have not been:::?’. These are the kinds of questions with which we accuse God. Effectively the case against God’s grace is that He will not actually forgive, justify and save weak sinners. And He gloriously wins the case against us. And He even uses our sin, as He used David’s (who becomes a figure of us all), in order to prove this to us and to the world. And so, in a matchless logical tour de force, Paul triumphs in <a href='B:520 3:5'>Rom 3:5</a>: “Our unrighteousness commends the righteousness of God".</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>David confession that he had sinned against God uses the very language of faithful Joseph who refused ongoing sexual temptation with these words (<a href='B:10 39:9'>Gen 39:9</a>). Could this not imply that Bathsheba wife of Uriah was seen by David as similar to Potiphar’s wife?&nbsp;Perhaps she was; or perhaps we are to see here another example of David seeking to mitigate his sin:&nbsp; There is no hint in the psalms of David's regret for having sinned against an innocent Bathsheba. Her child had to die; the retribution did not just come upon David. The incident is referred to as "the matter of Uriah" (<a href='B:110 15:5'>1Ki 15:5</a>); her name does not figure in those sinned against. "She came in unto him, and he lay with her" (<a href='B:100 11:4'>2Sa 11:4</a>) is an odd way of putting it; it reverses the usual Biblical reference to intercourse as a man coming in to the woman. The reason for this inversion seems to be to balance the blame. And there seems an evident similarity between the way the sin occurred within the city, and the way <a href='B:50 22:24'>Deu 22:24</a> says that in cases of adultery both parties were to be stoned if the sin occurred within a city and the woman didn’t cry out. Bathsheba doesn’t seem to have cried out- and so she bears equal blame, it would seem. This makes Bathsheba more of a sinner than a saint. This said, Nathan's parable describes David as killing the sweet lamb (Bathsheba); if she was partly guilty for the actual act, this may suggest a killing of her spirituality by David, at least temporarily:&nbsp;</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>"Justified", that God is right and man is wrong, is the central point of the argument, and is the crux of repentance:</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>A :1 blot out</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>B :2a wash</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>C :2b cleanse</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>D :3 I know</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>E :4a I sinned</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>F :4b you are justified</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>E :5 I::. a sinner</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>D :6 teach me</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>C :7a clean</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>B :7b wash</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>A :9 blot out.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity. In sin my mother conceived me-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>It could be that David was incorrect in thIsa. His sin made him perhaps blame it upon his being conceived out of wedlock; which would explain the tension between him and his much older brothers. But our biological background is no excuse for sin. Or perhaps David was blaming his sin upon some false idea that human conception, birth and being is of itself sinful. But this isn't the true picture of human nature. For whatever we posit about human nature, we are saying about the Lord Jesus, who fully shared our nature and yet was holy, harmless and undefiled (<a href='B:650 7:26'>Heb 7:26</a>). Clearly being human, having human nature, doesn't of itself alienate God from man. Nor are we inevitable sinners. So it seems to me that here David is here excusing his sin by wrongly blaming it upon such other factors. Again we get the sense so often that David's repentance was not as thorough going as it might have been.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>But there is another, somewhat complicated, explanation of these strange words. I noted on :1 that Psalms 50, 51 are related. By considering this in more detail, we see that this verse is the match to <a href='B:230 50:20'>Psa 50:20</a>:</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>A 50:2, 5: "Out of ZION::. a covenant with me by SACRIFICE"</p>&nbsp;<p style='margin-left:1:415em'>B 50:8 "your BURNT OFFERINGS are continually before Me"</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>C 50:9 "I will not accept a bull from your house"</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>D 50:15 "call on me::. I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me"</p>&nbsp;<p style='margin-left:1:415em'>E 50:18–20 recitation of Decalogue</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>F 50:20 "You slander your own MOTHER’S child"</p>&nbsp;<p style='margin-left:1:415em'>G 50:22 call to repentance: you who forget GOD</p>&nbsp;<p style='margin-left:1:415em'>H 51:1 Nathan’s confrontation of David</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Ga 51:1 prayer of repentance:</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Fa 51:5 "a sinner when my MOTHER conceived me"</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Ea 51:6 "teach me wisdom"</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Da 51:14 "deliver me from bloodshed::. and my tongue will sing aloud"</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Ca 51:16 "You have no delight in sacrifice"</p>&nbsp;<p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Ba 51:16 "if I were to give a BURNT OFFERING"</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Aa 51:18, 19 Do good to ZION::. then You will delight in right SACRIFICE"</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>David had been accused of slandering his own mother's son- namely himself and perhaps his brother. Here in <a href='B:230 51:5'>Psa 51:5</a> he admits that what he has said; he has accused his mother of conceiving in sin, out of wedlock. Perhaps David's tensions with his brothers had led to him accusing one of them of being illegitimate.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>"Desire" is the word used by David at the end of his life of how God desired or delighted in him (<a href='B:100 22:20'>2Sa 22:20</a>). Perhaps this desire or delight was because of the "truth" in David's heart in recognizing his sins and accepting God's grace. God did not "desire" sacrifice as much as this truth (s:w. <a href='B:230 40:6'>Psa 40:6</a>; <a href='B:230 51:16'>Psa 51:16</a>).</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Through his experience, David came to know what he calls 'truth in the inward parts': that the required sacrifice was a desperately broken and contrite heart (<a href='B:230 51:17'>Psa 51:17</a>). Repentance is really about recognizing this truth within us; this, and not a set of theologically pure propositions, is the ultimate "truth". According to Paul's use of the Bathsheba incident, David's learning curve must be ours. There are other links which show that David's sin, desperation and restoration are typical of the experience of all God's true people (e:g. <a href='B:230 51:7'>Psa 51:7</a> = <a href='B:290 1:18'>Isa 1:18</a>).</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>His very innermost being would then be able to learn more deeply of God's real wisdom. There is a connection between David knowing God in his "hidden part", and <a href='B:230 32:7'>Psa 32:7</a>: "Thou art my hiding place" , or 'hidden part'. This shows that David felt that after his repentance, God Himself would live in David's 'hidden part', that part of his mind and thinking which no one else knows. Through knowing God, God would come and live in that part which truly knew God. The tabernacling of God in our 'hidden part' also requires us to come to know Him, as David did:&nbsp;</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>You teach me wisdom in the innermost place-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Here again we see the activity of God's Spirit on the very innermost parts of the human psyche, the "heart".</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Purify me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>It should be noted that David / Bathsheba language is used to describe Israel's spiritually fallen state (e:g. <a href='B:230 38:7'>Psa 38:7</a> = <a href='B:290 1:6'>Isa 1:6</a>; <a href='B:230 51:7'>Psa 51:7</a> = <a href='B:290 1:18'>Isa 1:18</a>; <a href='B:230 65:2'>Psa 65:2</a> = <a href='B:290 40:15'>Isa 40:15</a>). David recognized this in <a href='B:230 51:17'>Psa 51:17</a>, where he likens his own state to that of Zion, which also needed to be revived by God's mercy. As David's sin is likened to the killing of a lamb (<a href='B:100 12:4'>2Sa 12:4</a>), so the Jews killed the Lord Jesus. The troubles which therefore came upon his kingdom have certain similarities with the events of AD67-70:&nbsp;&nbsp; They were also repeated in the Nazi Holocaust, and will yet be. Israel are yet to fully repent after the pattern of David.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>"Purge me::. and I shall be clean::. create in me a clean heart" (<a href='B:230 51:7'>Psa 51:7</a>; <a href='B:230 51:10'>Psa 51:10</a>) shows that David understood the 'me' which needed cleansing as being his own mind. This was clearly a result of the great level of self-examination which brought forth his real repentance. "Against thee, thee only have I sinned" (<a href='B:230 51:4'>Psa 51:4</a>) was a conclusion wrung out of so much reflection about what he had done; as is his recognition that his "sin" had involved many "transgressions" (<a href='B:230 51:3'>Psa 51:3</a>):&nbsp;</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Hyssop was used in the rituals for cleansing leprosy, and it is possible that David was struck with something like this disease after his sin with Bathsheba. This would explain why all his family and friends kept distant from him at that time of illness.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Let me hear joy and gladness-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>It is possible to intensely believe in the mercy of God, His ability to save, and yet not have the real faith- which is to believe that this mercy and salvation really can still apply to us personally. Thus he prays "Let me hear joy and gladness". His introspective world of sin and self-hate found joy a paradigm impossible to relate to; as with mercy and salvation, he knew spiritual joy existed, but seemed unable to make this apply to him personally:&nbsp;</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>So that the bones which You have broken may rejoice-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'> Here we see the contrast with the Lord Jesus, who identified with David's feelings after the sin with Bathsheba, but whose bones were not broken:&nbsp;</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Hide Your face from my sins-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Paul can speak in Romans 7 as if he is two different people; “I myself serve the law of God”, but “my flesh” serves sin. Likewise David asked God not to hide His face from him, David personally, (<a href='B:230 27:9'>Psa 27:9</a>; <a href='B:230 69:17'>Psa 69:17</a>; <a href='B:230 102:2'>Psa 102:2</a>; <a href='B:230 143:7'>Psa 143:7</a>), but to hide His face from David’s sins (<a href='B:230 51:9'>Psa 51:9</a>). And one wonders whether the way the records of the Lord’s temptations are written implies some similar recognition by the Spirit of the two ‘men’ within the Lord.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>And blot out all of my iniquities-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>We note with concern that in a Psalm written apparently after this time concerning the time of Absalom's rebellion, David asks that the sins of his enemies not be blotted out (<a href='B:230 109:14'>Psa 109:14</a>). Again we wonder as to whether David maintained an awareness of the enormity of God's grace to him. In the context of the exiles, they were comforted that God would likewise blot out their iniquities- if they repented as David did (s:w. <a href='B:290 43:25'>Isa 43:25</a>; <a href='B:290 44:22'>Isa 44:22</a>).</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Create in me a clean heart, O God, renew a right spirit within me-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Here we see clearly enough that God can work directly on the human heart or spirit, through the work of His Holy Spirit (:11,12). His Spirit works upon the human spirit. And the same word for "create" is used of the natural creation; here we have the doctrine of a new creation in the hearts of people, of the kind repeatedly offered to the exiles in later Isaiah- if they followed David's path of repentance.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>David felt that his youth was renewed like the eagle's in his repeated experience of God's grace (<a href='B:230 103:5'>Psa 103:5</a>), that his soul was restored (<a href='B:230 23:5'>Psa 23:5</a>), and that a right spirit could be renewed by God within him (<a href='B:230 51:10'>Psa 51:10</a>). This is the equivalent of the "newness of life" which is promised to us through acceptance of God's Spirit. As God doesn’t faint or weary, so somehow those who identify their lives with His will also keep on keeping on- even now (<a href='B:290 40:31'>Isa 40:31</a> cp. 29).</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>David had earlier understood that for the humble and righteous, God can "prepare their heart" (<a href='B:230 10:17'>Psa 10:17</a>). This is evidence enough that God works directly upon the human heart and psychology, which He does today through the work of His Spirit upon the human spirit. For it is men who must prepare their heart in prayer and relationship toward God (s:w. <a href='B:140 12:14'>2Ch 12:14</a>; <a href='B:220 11:13'>Job 11:13</a>; <a href='B:230 7:9'>Psa 7:9</a>). But God can also do this for the humble. Hence David later asks God to create in him a 'prepared' heart (s:w. <a href='B:230 51:10'>Psa 51:10</a>). And God heard; for the same phrase is used of how God 'prepared' or (AV) "fixed" his heart (<a href='B:230 57:7'>Psa 57:7</a>; <a href='B:230 108:1'>Psa 108:1</a>; <a href='B:230 112:7'>Psa 112:7</a>). In allusion to this, Solomon was to later reflect that God can direct or 'prepare' (s:w:) the heart of man, even if he is thinking to direct his steps elsewhwere (<a href='B:240 16:9'>Pro 16:9</a>).</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Don’t throw me out from Your presence, and don’t take Your spirit of holiness from me-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The implication seems to be that whilst we are in God's presence, in covenant relationship with Him, then His Holy Spirit is working in our lives and hearts (:10). This is the litmus test as to whether we are in fellowship with God- rather than acceptance of any particular set of theological propositions. The request for restoration of the Spirit in :12 could suggest that God had withdrawn His Holy Spirit from David in the time between the sin with Bathsheba and his repentance; but see on :12.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, uphold me with a willing spirit-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'><a href='B:230 51:11-12'>Psa 51:11-12</a> speaks of God's "free spirit" [or 'willing spirit' ASV], paralleling it with God's Spirit, His "presence", the "joy of thy salvation". All those terms are parallel. God wills us to be spiritual, with His "willing spirit". The spirit of God is His presence, His salvation, joy, freedom. The Hebrew translated "free" really means 'generous'- the generosity of God's Spirit / mind / ways is shown in His forgiveness and saving of us. If God's spirit is His character, then, it is free, joyous, generous etc. Human beings can also have a "free heart" - the same Hebrew word appears translated like this in <a href='B:140 29:31'>2Ch 29:31</a> etc:- i:e. a spirit of generosity. When we have this, we are reflecting the "free spirit" / attitude of God. Whenever we are generous, His Spirit, with all its generosity, dwells in us and becomes our spirit. It is in this sense that I see a window into understanding the gift of God's spirit into the heart / mind / attitude of the believer. If God's spirit is free / generous, then so is ours to be; if His Spirit is joyous, just, true etc, then so is ours to be. In this sense we receive of His Spirit by reflecting His free and generous mind to others.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>There is good reason to think that David did not spiritually crash completely, during the months in which he refused to fully acknowledge his sin. Although he no longer felt confident of having God's salvation, he still felt that God's Spirit / presence was with him. Hence he prayed in his confession: "Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me (i:e. he felt that he had these things even then). Restore unto me the joy of salvation:::thy free spirit" (<a href='B:230 51:11-12'>Psa 51:11-12</a>). He was very conscious that God was so closely watching him: " Hide thy face from my sins:::against thee (have I) done this evil in thy sight" (<a href='B:230 51:4'>Psa 51:4</a>; <a href='B:230 51:9'>Psa 51:9</a>). " Day and night thy hand was heavy upon me" (<a href='B:230 32:4'>Psa 32:4</a>), he later recognized as he reflected upon God's close scrutiny of his life during those unrepentant months:&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, sinners shall be converted to You-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'> Being so certain of having received God's mercy, and therefore knowing the joy of living in good conscience with God, led David to preach to those around him. And he was certain that if he were forgiven and restored, he would make converts on the basis of&nbsp; this wonderful grace being publicized. Note too that Psalms 32 is a 'Maschil' psalm- 'for instruction', or teaching of others. If we have really experienced the mercy of God, we will preach to others from our personal experience. 'Preaching' will not be something which we will have to will ourselves to do, nor will it be just a compartment of our lives. Like David, our very existence, the very spirit of our lives, will be an open proclamation of what God's mercy has achieved in us:&nbsp;And indeed David turned men to God after he himself had turned back to Him in repentance about Bathsheba. And we will only be powerful preachers if we preach likewise:&nbsp; </p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Morally disgraced in the eyes of all Israel and even the surrounding nations, not to mention his own family, it could be argued that David didn't have a leg to stand on when it came to telling other people how to live their lives. A lesser man than David would have resigned all connection with any kind of preaching. But throughout the Bathsheba psalms there is constant reference to David's desire to go and share the grace of God which he had experienced with others (Psalms 32 title; 51:13). He titles them ‘maschil’- for instruction / teaching. “Have mercy upon me, O Lord::. that I may shew forth all thy praise in the gates” (<a href='B:230 9:13-14'>Psa 9:13-14</a>).</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>When David wrote that “Then will I teach transgressors thy ways; and sinners shall be converted unto thee” (<a href='B:230 51:13'>Psa 51:13</a>), he was paralleling his teaching with others’ conversion- in a way that suggests he was so confident that his preaching would certainly bring forth conversion. Yet distribution of leaflets, countless conversations::. all these preaching activities are inevitably repetitious, and so few respond that we can lose our basic love for our fellow man, and lose the hopeful spirit which pervades throughout the self-revelation of our Heavenly Father.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Deliver me from blood guiltiness, O God, the God of my salvation. My tongue shall sing aloud of Your righteousness-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Deliverance from sin was to be the prayer of the exiles (<a href='B:230 79:9'>Psa 79:9</a> s:w:); again, David's path of repentance and restoration is set up as the pattern for the exiles. Solomon often speaks of righteousness delivering the wise; he has missed the desperation of his father, who prayed for God to deliver him.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>David's prayer of repentance and request to be saved from "blood guiltiness" (<a href='B:230 51:14'>Psa 51:14</a>) is literally 'from blood'. He was a man of blood and was guilty of Uriah's innocent blood. David had asked for 'men of blood' to be slain (<a href='B:230 55:23'>Psa 55:23</a> s:w:), those who had taken the blood of the innocent (<a href='B:230 94:21'>Psa 94:21</a>), and for 'men of blood' to be expelled from his presence (<a href='B:230 139:19'>Psa 139:19</a>). And it is not at all clear whether all those Psalms were written before his sin with Bathsheba. God was trying to teach David that he was the type of person whom he condemned. And yet it is unclear if he learned that lesson. Solomon liberally condemns the man who sheds innocent blood (<a href='B:240 6:17'>Pro 6:17</a>; <a href='B:240 28:17'>Pro 28:17</a>), refusing to recognize that his much lauded father had done just this, and was only saved by grace and not by any obedience to wisdom. There is so little grace in the book of Solomon's Proverbs because Solomon had failed to perceive the grace shown to his father.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The desire to be saved from blood guiltiness could also be read as a desire to be saved from the consequences of the shedding of Uriah's blood. Ahithophel, Bathsheba's grandfather, turned against David because of it. Again we note that his desire to be saved from shame and the consequences of the sins appears greater and more frequently stated than his desire for forgiveness.</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Lord, open my lips; my mouth shall declare Your praise-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>During the illness David endured after the sin with Bathsheba, it seems he may have suffered a stroke which left him dumb. He wanted healing so that he could then praise God. "Declare" is used here for David's declaration of praise after his forgiveness concerning Bathsheba; the "truth" which David "declared" after his forgiveness (<a href='B:230 30:9'>Psa 30:9</a>) was the ultimate truth, of God's forgiveness of him by grace; a 'declaring' of his sin (<a href='B:230 38:18'>Psa 38:18</a> s:w:) and God's forgiveness.</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'>For You don’t delight in sacrifice, or else I would give it; You have no pleasure in burnt offering-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>As noted on <a href='B:230 20:3'>Psa 20:3</a>, success in war and answer to prayer was thought to depend upon the offering of sacrifice. After the sin with Bathsheba, David now matures in his understanding- that salvation and God's operation with His people is by grace and not because He desired sacrifice (<a href='B:230 40:6'>Psa 40:6</a>; <a href='B:230 51:16-17'>Psa 51:16-17</a>). This was spoken by David perhaps more concerning this sin of presumption for which there was no sacrifice prescribed, rather than about the actual sin of adultery. The sin of presumption, however, must not give us the impression that David was a hard, callous man. Everything we know about him points to him be a big hearted, warm softie. David's sin with Bathsheba was in that sense out of character. Yet such is the stranglehold of sin that even he was forced to act with such uncharacteristic callousness and indifference to both God and man in order to try to cover his sin.</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart, O God, You will not despise-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>See on :7. As noted on :1, this is David's response to the judgment threatened in <a href='B:230 50:8'>Psa 50:8</a>. David was aware that God didn't really want sacrifice, or else he would so eagerly have offered it. Instead, David perceived that what God wanted in essence was a broken and contrite spirit. The Bathsheba incident was programmatic for David's understanding of God, and his prayers and psalms subsequently can be expected to have constant allusion back to it. We meet the same idea of God not ultimately wanting sacrifice in <a href='B:230 40:6-9'>Psa 40:6-9</a>: "Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire [but instead] mine ears hast thou opened [Heb. 'digged'- a reference to a servant being permanently committed as a slave to his master]: burnt offering and sin offering hast thou not required. Then said I, Lo, I come::. to do thy will::. thy law is within my heart". In <a href='B:230 51:17'>Psa 51:17</a>, David had reasoned that instead of sacrifice, God wanted a heart that was broken and contrite. In Psalms 40 he reflects that instead of sacrifice, God wants a heart that has the law of God within it. This ultimately is the effect of God's law being in our heart- it creates a broken and contrite heart. But how? In the experience of most of us, the law does this through convicting us of our inability to keep the it. And so we see how guilt and grace work so seamlessly together. David's broken heart was a heart which knew he had sinned, sinned irreversibly, and condemned himself. But this, he perceived, was the result of God's law being within his heart. But the words of <a href='B:230 40:6-9'>Psa 40:6-9</a> are applied in the New Testament to the Lord's death upon the cross. What's the connection, and what's the lesson? In essence, through David's experience of sin, and the work of God's law upon his heart, he came through that sin to have the very mind of the Lord Jesus as He hung upon the cross, matchless and spotless in His perfection, as the Lamb for sinners slain. Again and again we see the lesson taught- that God works through human sin, in this case, in order to bring us to know the very mind of Christ in His finest hour of glory and spiritual conquest. We must not only let God's word work its way in us; but we need to recognize when dealing with other sinners that God likewise is working with them. He doesn't shrug and walk away from sin; He earnestly seeks to use our experience of it to bring us closer unto Himself.</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Do well in Your good pleasure to Zion, build the walls of Jerusalem-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>It seems apparent the Psalms were re-written over time, and hence have relevance to various historical settings:&nbsp; Psalms 51 down to :17 is clearly relevant to David’s sin with Bathsheba. But then, in order to make the entire Psalm an acrostic, we find verses apparently ‘added’, referring to God building the walls of Jerusalem and acceptable sacrifice being offered again in the temple [which didn’t exist in David’s time]. David’s sin and restoration was evidently understood by some inspired scribe or prophet at the time of the exile to speak to Judah’s sin, punishment and restoration. Hence the apparent changes of some passages from “I” to “we”.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>David saw his sufferings as being bound up with those of Israel; those who hated him hated Zion, those who blessed him blessed Zion, and God's salvation of Israel was being expressed through God's deliverance of him in the daily vicissitudes of life; as God had chosen Zion, so He had David His servant; David's joy was Zion's joy, and her exaltation would be David's&nbsp; (<a href='B:230 51:18'>Psa 51:18</a>; <a href='B:230 69:35'>Psa 69:35</a>; <a href='B:230 87:2'>Psa 87:2</a>; <a href='B:230 106:5'>Psa 106:5</a>; <a href='B:230 121:3-4'>Psa 121:3-4</a>; <a href='B:230 125:1'>Psa 125:1</a>; <a href='B:230 128:5'>Psa 128:5</a>; <a href='B:230 146:10'>Psa 146:10</a>; <a href='B:230 149:2'>Psa 149:2</a>). This is how we are to make sense of suffering- by understanding that it plays a role in the salvation of others, and is part of a wider nexus of Divine operation. We suffer so that we may be able to minister the comfort we receive to others (<a href='B:540 1:4'>2Co 1:4</a>). Job likewise came to realize that his sufferings were not so much for his personal maturing, but for the teaching and salvation of the friends.</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Then You will delight in the sacrifices of righteousness, in burnt offerings and in whole burnt offerings. Then they will offer bullocks on Your altar-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'> This surely alludes to the statement in the previous Psalm that God doesn't delight in burnt offerings as much as in trust in Him in the day of trouble (<a href='B:230 50:8'>Psa 50:8</a>). See on :1. After his sin with Bathsheba, David perceived that God didn't require bulls and goats, but rather the sacrifice of&nbsp; contrite heart (<a href='B:230 51:16-17'>Psa 51:16-17</a>). But here he again envisages offering sacrifice. We could conclude that he means sacrifices now offered in the right spirit. Or we could see this as a slip back from grace towards the old way of works-based thinking.</p><h2></h2>


text:
<h2>For the Chief Musician. A contemplation by David, when Doeg the Edomite came and told Saul, David has come to Abimelech’s house-</h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This incident caused the slaughter of the 85 priests of Abimelech's family (<a href='B:90 22:18'>1Sa 22:18</a>). These are David's reflections upon thIsa.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Why do you boast of mischief, mighty man? God’s grace endures continually-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Doeg apparently boasted about the slaughter of the priests. "Mighty man" is the word used of Goliath the "champion" (<a href='B:90 17:51'>1Sa 17:51</a>). As his proud boasts had been brought down by God's grace working through David, so David believed Doeg would eventually be conquered likewise; see on :2 for another allusion to Goliath. We can also look to past precedents in our lives for encouragement as to how God will finally come through for us.</p>


text:
<h2>Your tongue plots destruction, like a sharp razor, working deceitfully-</h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>David was to later plot the destruction of Uriah by his words; and when he repented of this in <a href='B:230 32:2'>Psa 32:2</a>, he says that lack of deceit / guile (s:w:) is only possible through imputed righteousness. David's intolerance of "deceitful" persons (<a href='B:230 52:2'>Psa 52:2</a>; <a href='B:230 101:7'>Psa 101:7</a>; <a href='B:230 120:3'>Psa 120:3</a>) must be compared with the fact that he himself was only counted as not deceitful by grace; for he was very deceitful regarding Uriah. "Razor" is the same word used for the sheath of Goliath's sword (<a href='B:90 17:51'>1Sa 17:51</a>); the same verse speaks of Goliath as the "champion", s:w. "mighty man" in :1.</p>


text:
<h2>You love evil more than good, lying rather than speaking the truth. Selah-</h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>"Lying" reflects again David's deep sense of injustice (see on <a href='B:230 35:7'>Psa 35:7</a>). He uses the word for "false witness", as if they were breaking one of the ten commandments; and he uses it often, heaping condemnation upon any who dare lie / bear false witness about him (<a href='B:230 38:19'>Psa 38:19</a>; <a href='B:230 52:3'>Psa 52:3</a>; <a href='B:230 63:11'>Psa 63:11</a>; <a href='B:230 101:7'>Psa 101:7</a>; <a href='B:230 119:29'>Psa 119:29</a>; <a href='B:230 119:69'>Psa 119:69</a>; <a href='B:230 119:86'>Psa 119:86</a>; <a href='B:230 119:118'>Psa 119:118</a>; <a href='B:230 120:2'>Psa 120:2</a>; <a href='B:230 144:8'>Psa 144:8</a>; <a href='B:230 144:11'>Psa 144:11</a>). And yet David lied and deceived in order to get Uriah killed so that he could take his wife for himself. Surely reflection upon that sin made him realize that his zeal to condemn dishonesty was at best misplaced; to lament it is one thing, but David was to be taught that he had himself done the very thing he so condemned.</p>


text:
<h2>You love all devouring words, you deceitful tongue-</h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Doeg is here addressed as if he is his own tongue. As "the word was God", so a man is his words. This points up the critical importance of our words.</p>


text:
<h2>God will likewise destroy you forever-</h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Doeg would be destroyed "likewise" by the sword, as the priests were slain by the sword; but "forever", perhaps implying that David understood the destruction of the 85 priests as not being "forever" in that they would be resurrected.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>He will take you up, and pluck you out of your tent, and root you out of the land of the living. Selah-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>"Tent" is appropriate as Doeg lived in a tent as an itinerant herdsman (<a href='B:90 21:7'>1Sa 21:7</a>).</p>


text:
<h2>The righteous also will see it, and fear, and laugh at him, saying-</h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This is best understood as the language of the last judgment, as there is no evidence that it happened to Doeg in this life. There is a Biblical theme that the judgment seat will be before all; the righteous will see the wicked walking naked in their shame; and will see the destruction of Doeg, resurrected and condemned to the second death.</p>


text:
<h2>Behold, this is the man who didn’t make God his strength, but trusted in the abundance of his riches, and strengthened himself in his wickedness-</h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Doeg clearly was motivated by a love of riches, and was rewarded by Saul materially for bringing about the betrayal of David and the slaughter of the priests.</p>


text:
<h2>But as for me, I am like a green olive tree in God’s house. I trust in God’s grace forever and ever-</h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>At the time of the Psalm (:1), David was still on the run from Saul. But he felt as if he was in the sanctuary. The "house" of God was not then built; perhaps this was added in the exile, to encourage the exiles that like David they by God's eternal grace could likewise effectively be in His "house"- even whilst in exile from it.</p>


text:
<h2>I will give You thanks forever, because You have done it. I will hope in Your name, for it is good, in the presence of Your saints- David speaks of that yet future as if it is yet done. This is how God sees things, and the invitation to have faith is an invitation to see things from His perspective. David sees himself at the last day in the presence of other faithful ones, thanking God for His judgments upon the wicked.</h2><h2></h2>


text:
<h2>For the Chief Musician. To the tune of Mahalath. A contemplation by David-</h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>"Mahalath" means "sickness", and this may have been written or used with reference to the time when David was sick after the sin with Bathsheba. The AV adds the title "Maschil", for instruction; as if this may have been one of the songs David wrote after receiving forgiveness, in an attempt to bring others to know the grace he had experienced.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The fool has said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, and have done abominable iniquity. There is no one who does good-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The Psalms are sometimes paired, and we wonder if Psalms 53 continues the reflections of Psalms 52 about Doeg. However, "Nabal", whose name means "fool", died from heart failure; and perhaps he is here in view. Or perhaps a Psalm initially about Nabal was reworked to be relevant to Doeg and other individuals who had rejected God. The denial of God need not refer to atheism as we understand it; for atheism was almost unheard of in David's time. Rather does it refer to the inner mentality which acts as if there is no God. The same phrase is used in <a href='B:230 14:1'>Psa 14:1</a>, and the Targum on that verse is ‘There is no government of God in the earth’. God may exist theoretically, but is not a factor in human life. And we too can be effective atheists in this sense.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The quotation in <a href='B:520 3:10'>Rom 3:10</a> from <a href='B:230 14:1-3'>Psa 14:1-3</a>; <a href='B:230 53:1-3'>Psa 53:1-3</a> is about the fools who say in their heart that there is no God; and it seems David has specific enemies of his in view, perhaps Nabal or Doeg. Yet Paul applies this to every one of us, himself included. What he’s doing here is similar to what he does at the end of Romans 1 - he speaks of the grossest sins such as lesbianism and reasons that we are all in essence guilty and condemned as serious sinners before God. Here he quotes passages which speak of effective atheism and applies them to us all, himself included- even though atheism was abhorrent to the Jews, and Paul may have seemed the last person to be an atheist. But the ‘atheism’ occurs within the psychological thought processes of the human mind- the fool says in his heart that there is no God. In the context of Romans, Paul is arguing that we call God a liar when we disbelieve His offer of justification and salvation. To deny this is to effectively say in our hearts that there is no God. If God is, then He is a Saviour God. To deny that He will save me is effectively to say He doesn’t exist; for a God who won’t save me may as well not exist. Far too many people claim some level of belief in God’s existence, but in their hearts deny Him, in that they personally doubt whether His promised salvation is really true for me.</p>


text:
<h2>God looks down from heaven on the children of men, to see if there are any who understood, who seek after God-</h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>David clearly assumed that although this was generally the case, he and the righteous did understand and seek after God. But as noted on :2, Paul sees David as being overly generous to himself, and "concludes all under sin", including the righteous. We note that understanding God is paralleled with seeking after Him. Nobody arrives at 100% understanding of God; the true understanding is to have a heart which seeks to understand Him.</p>


text:
<h2>Every one of them has gone back. They have become filthy together. There is no one who does good, no, not one-</h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>David often describes himself as "upright in heart" just as Job was (s:w. <a href='B:220 1:8'>Job 1:8</a>; <a href='B:220 2:3'>Job 2:3</a>). David sees this as characteristic of all God's people (s:w. <a href='B:230 11:2'>Psa 11:2</a>; <a href='B:230 19:8'>Psa 19:8</a>; <a href='B:230 32:11'>Psa 32:11</a>; <a href='B:230 36:10'>Psa 36:10</a>; <a href='B:230 64:10'>Psa 64:10</a>; <a href='B:230 94:15'>Psa 94:15</a>; <a href='B:230 97:11'>Psa 97:11</a>). But he sees the wicked as those who are not upright, who have "gone back" (<a href='B:230 14:3'>Psa 14:3</a>; <a href='B:230 51:1'>Psa 51:1</a>; <a href='B:230 51:3'>Psa 51:3</a>). But these words which David writes about the wicked are then reinterpreted as applying to all men, God's people included (<a href='B:520 3:12'>Rom 3:12</a>). Like Job, David had to be taught that actually he was failing to see the seriousness of sin; righteousness and acceptability with God is imputed to men by grace through faith, because actually there are none who are upright in heart, apart from God's representative son.</p>


text:
<h2>Have the workers of iniquity no knowledge, who eat up my people as they eat bread, and don’t call on God?- </h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This Psalm which was originally about Doeg or Nabal comes to be reapplied to the general enemies of God's people, who 'ate them up' as did the Babylonians and Assyrians. Their abuse of people was because they lacked "knowledge", and yet adultery is also a sin reflecting a lacking of knowledge or understanding (<a href='B:240 6:32'>Pro 6:32</a>). Again, David uses terms about the wicked which become relevant to himself. All sin against others is a reflection of a lack of understanding and personal calling upon God.</p>


text:
<h2>There they were in great fear, where no fear was, for God has scattered the bones of him who encamps against you. You have put them to shame, because God has rejected them-</h2><h2> As noted on :4, a Psalm which began as David's reflections upon individuals like Doeg or Nabal comes to be applied to Israel as a whole. A comparison of Psalms 14, 53 illustrate the process of re-writing at Hezekiah's time. These Psalms are both "A Psalm of David", and are virtually identical apart from <a href='B:230 53:5'>Psa 53:5</a> adding: "There were they in great fear, where no fear was; For God hath scattered the bones of him that encampeth against thee: Thou hast put them to shame, because God hath rejected them". This surely alludes to the Assyrian army encamped against Jerusalem (<a href='B:140 32:1'>2Ch 32:1</a>), put into fear by the Angels, and returning "with shame of face to his own land" (<a href='B:140 32:21'>2Ch 32:21</a>). Perhaps the idea is that the Jews who feared them need not have feared them. Yet both Psalms conclude with a verse which connects with the exiles in Babylonian captivity: "Oh that the salvation of Israel were come out of Zion! When God bringeth back the captivity of his people, Then shall Jacob rejoice, and Israel shall be glad". So it would appear that the initial Psalm was indeed written by David; the version of Psalms 14 which is now Psalms 53 was added to and adapted in Hezekiah's time (<a href='B:240 25:1'>Pro 25:1</a>), and both versions had a final verse added to them during the exile.</h2>


text:
<h2>Oh that the salvation of Israel would come out of Zion! When God brings back His people from captivity, then Jacob shall rejoice, and Israel shall be glad- </h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>"Salvation" is Yeshua. Clearly the desire is for Yeshua / Jesus to come out of Zion, and this is how it is interpreted in <a href='B:520 11:26'>Rom 11:26</a>. Many NT passages mix a number of OT passages in one 'quotation'; e:g. " The deliverer will come from Zion" (<a href='B:520 11:26'>Rom 11:26</a>) is a conflated quotation of <a href='B:230 14:7'>Psa 14:7</a>; <a href='B:230 53:6'>Psa 53:6</a> and <a href='B:290 59:20'>Isa 59:20</a>. And <a href='B:650 13:5'>Heb 13:5</a> combines quotes from <a href='B:10 28:15'>Gen 28:15</a>; <a href='B:60 1:5'>Jos 1:5</a> and <a href='B:50 31:16'>Deu 31:16</a>. <a href='B:650 13:5'>Heb 13:5</a> doesn’t quote any of them exactly, but mixes them together. As noted on :5, this Psalm had initial application to individuals in David's time, but :4,5 are reworked with relevance to the Assyrian invasion; and now in this verse the Psalm is given relevance to the exiles awaiting restoration to Zion. And this is how we too are invited to personalize and use the scriptures.</p><h2></h2>


text:
<h2>For the Chief Musician. On stringed instruments. A contemplation by David, when the Ziphites came and said to Saul, Isn’t David hiding himself among us?- </h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Most people react badly to betrayal, and it leaves a lingering sense of bitterness. But David dealt with it by writing songs about his experiences, openly sharing how he thought and felt, and bringing God into every feeling and situation.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Save me, God, by Your name. Vindicate me in Your might-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>David understood God's Name as the summary of His personality and character; and it was according to his understanding of this that he asks for salvation. For the summation of God's character is that He is a loving saviour. This came to full term in His Son, and abides true for all time.</p>


text:
<h2>Hear my prayer, God. Listen to the words of my mouth-</h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This could imply that David prayed his prayers out loud.</p>


text:
<h2>For strangers have risen up against me-</h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The Ziphites were from Judah (<a href='B:60 15:55'>Jos 15:55</a>), but David treats them as Gentiles, which is the implication of "strangers". To hate our brother (for David was also from Judah) is to classify ourselves with the world.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Violent men have sought after my soul-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The very phrase used of Saul's hunting of David at the time of the incident with the Ziphites (<a href='B:90 23:15'>1Sa 23:15</a>). Saul sought&nbsp; to take David's life. So many of the Psalms contain imprecations against those who were seeking David's soul- not just his physical life, but seeking to destroy his very being (e:g. <a href='B:230 35:4'>Psa 35:4</a>; <a href='B:230 40:14'>Psa 40:14</a>; <a href='B:230 54:1'>Psa 54:1</a>; <a href='B:230 63:9'>Psa 63:9</a>; <a href='B:230 70:2'>Psa 70:2</a>; <a href='B:230 71:13'>Psa 71:13</a>). These imprecations expose the evil of Saul, and asks God to condemn him. Some of those Psalms appear to have been written by David in the Saul days, and then rewritten at the time of Absalom's rebellion- another man who sought David's soul, and yet whom David loved:&nbsp;</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>They haven’t set God before them. Selah-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The implication is that David had done this (<a href='B:230 16:8'>Psa 16:8</a>). Always David likes to present himself as of a totally superior spiritual class to his enemies; the sin with Bathsheba was to mean that so much of his hard words about others became relevant to him, driving him to throw himself upon Divine grace alone.</p>


text:
<h2>Behold, God is my helper, the Lord is the one who sustains my soul-</h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The tone of the Psalm changes from desperate begging for help, to confidence that God has heard him. This may have been because of some direct Divine revelation; but I suggest rather it is what happens in our prayers. Within the prayer we ourselves become persuaded of God's answer and find peace and confidence in Him.</p>


text:
<h2>He will repay the evil to my enemies; destroy them in Your truth-</h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>"Truth" is often a reference to God's covenant. He appeals for judgment of his enemies on the basis that he considers they have broken covenant with God and must receive the curses associated with doing so.</p>


text:
<h2>With a free will offering, I will sacrifice to You. I will give thanks to Your name, Yahweh, for it is good-</h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>David at this time was on the run from Saul. His freewill offering would have had to be made outside of the sanctuary system. Although he may have in view returning to the sanctuary and offering there, once all his enemies (including Saul) had been destroyed (:7).</p>


text:
<h2>For He has delivered me out of all trouble. My eye has seen triumph over my enemies- He speaks in the past tense when he has the future in view. David speaks of that yet future as if it is yet done. This is how God sees things, and the invitation to have faith is an invitation to see things from His perspective. David sees himself at the last day in the presence of other faithful ones, thanking God for His judgments upon the wicked.</h2><h2></h2>


text:
<h2>For the Chief Musician. On stringed instruments. A contemplation by David-</h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The context appears to be when David was still in Jerusalem (:9-11), and realized the extent of Absalom's rebellion and Ahithophel's deceit.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Listen to my prayer, God. Don’t hide Yourself from my supplication-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>David's prayer before fleeing Jerusalem was presumably written down, or recalled under Divine inspiration; and he wanted it to be known for all time and to all peoples, that God had saved him from apparently inevitable destruction- both personally and of his kingdom.</p>


text:
<h2>Attend to me, and answer me-</h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>If we "attend" to God's word (<a href='B:240 2:2'>Pro 2:2</a>; <a href='B:240 4:1'>Pro 4:1</a>; <a href='B:240 7:24'>Pro 7:24</a>), then He will "attend" to our word, of prayer (<a href='B:230 55:2'>Psa 55:2</a> and often in the Psalms). There is thereby a mutuality between God and man. Our attitude to His word becomes reflected in His attitude to our words in prayer; for God and man are in dialogue.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>I am restless in my complaint and moan-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>David's moaning or weeping was his prayer (:1). Who we are as persons is effectively our prayer and plea to God. This conception of prayer explains why often weeping, crying, waiting, meditating etc. are spoken of as "prayer", although there was no specific verbalizing of requests (<a href='B:230 5:1-2'>Psa 5:1-2</a>; <a href='B:230 6:8'>Psa 6:8</a>; <a href='B:230 18:1-3'>Psa 18:1-3</a>; <a href='B:230 18:6'>Psa 18:6</a>; <a href='B:230 40:1'>Psa 40:1</a>; <a href='B:230 42:8'>Psa 42:8</a>; <a href='B:230 64:1'>Psa 64:1</a> Heb:; 65:1,2; 66:17-20; <a href='B:450 8:22'>Zec 8:22</a>). The association between prayer and weeping is especially common: <a href='B:90 1:10'>1Sa 1:10</a>; <a href='B:230 39:12'>Psa 39:12</a>; <a href='B:230 55:1-2'>Psa 55:1-2</a>; <a href='B:500 11:41-42'>Joh 11:41-42</a>; <a href='B:650 5:7'>Heb 5:7</a>, especially in the Lord's life and the Messianic Psalms. "The Lord hath heard the voice of my weeping. The Lord hath heard my supplication; the Lord will receive my prayer" (<a href='B:230 6:8-9'>Psa 6:8-9</a>) crystallizes the point.</p>


text:
<h2>because of the words of the enemy, because of the oppression of the wicked. For they bring suffering on me, in anger they hold a grudge against me-</h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The "grudge" could well refer to Ahithophel's grudge against David, seeing that he was Bathsheba's grandfather. We may rightly feel that David ought to have been more acceptive of the results and consequences of his sin with Bathsheba; but so much of his prayer life after the incident appears to be complaint about the consequences and badgering God to remove them- rather than glorying in the grace and forgiveness given him:&nbsp;</p>


text:
<h2>My heart is severely pained within me, the terrors of death have come upon me-</h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Despite his undoubted physique stamina, David was a broken man, even quite early in his life, prone to fits of introspection; dramatic mood-swings (cp. <a href='B:90 24:14'>1Sa 24:14</a> with <a href='B:90 25:6'>1Sa 25:6</a>; <a href='B:90 25:22'>1Sa 25:22</a>; <a href='B:90 25:34'>1Sa 25:34</a>;), sometimes appearing a real 'softie' but hard as nails at others (consider <a href='B:230 75:10'>Psa 75:10</a> and the whole of Psalms 101); easily getting carried away: be it with excessive emotional enthusiasm for bringing the ark back, in his harsh response to Hanun humbling his servants, his over-hasty and emotional decision to let Amnon go to Absalom's feast when it was obvious what might well transpire, his anger "flaring up" because of incompetency (<a href='B:100 11:20'>2Sa 11:20</a> NIV),&nbsp; or in his ridiculous softness for Absalom. He had a heart cruelly torn so many ways. All these traits are amply reflected in the Psalms: <a href='B:230 6:7'>Psa 6:7</a>; <a href='B:230 31:10'>Psa 31:10</a>; <a href='B:230 42:3'>Psa 42:3</a>; <a href='B:230 42:6'>Psa 42:6</a>; <a href='B:230 38:8'>Psa 38:8</a>; <a href='B:230 55:4'>Psa 55:4</a>; <a href='B:230 56:8'>Psa 56:8</a>; <a href='B:230 69:3'>Psa 69:3</a>; <a href='B:230 69:29'>Psa 69:29</a>; <a href='B:230 88:3'>Psa 88:3</a>; <a href='B:230 88:9'>Psa 88:9</a>; <a href='B:230 94:19'>Psa 94:19</a> (what introspection!); 102:4; 116:3; 143:4.</p>


text:
<h2>Fearfulness and trembling have come upon me, horror has overwhelmed me-</h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This seems the very opposite to the situation in <a href='B:230 78:53'>Psa 78:53</a>, where the faithful were not fearful, and it was their Egyptian enemies who were "overwhelmed". He feels overwhelmed [s:w. "covered"] with horror, rather than feeling covered by Yahweh's protective cherubic wings, as he often confidently expresses (<a href='B:230 143:9'>Psa 143:9</a> s:w:). David appears to feel he is spiritually without God and facing the judgment of condemnation. His faith in forgiveness regarding Bathsheba and Uriah appears deeply dented at this point; because he had set his mind to assume that he was not going to suffer the consequences of the sin. Yet Nathan had assured him that he would, and he clearly struggled with that.</p>


text:
<h2>I said, Oh that I had wings like a dove! Then I would fly away, and be at rest-</h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The "I said::." suggests this Psalm is David's recollection of how he felt just before fleeing Jerusalem from Absalom (see on :1).</p>


text:
<h2>Behold, then I would wander far off, I would lodge in the wilderness. Selah-</h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>David did indeed lodge in the wilderness when he fled Absalom. But initially it seemed that flight even to the wilderness was impossible, because it would require David to have wings and fly there from Jerusalem (:6). He felt he was encircled. See on :10.</p>


text:
<h2>I would hurry to a shelter from the stormy wind and storm-</h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>David appears to wish to have a shelter from the storm- when elsewhere he proclaims Yahweh to be just thIsa. His confusion is because he expects God to remove from him the consequences of his sin with Bathsheba- and when God will not, David feels God is somehow not there for him. He fails to appreciate the wonder of the fact God had no executed him, and had extended the forgiveness which only comes from radical grace.</p>


text:
<h2>Confuse them, Lord, and confound their language, for I have seen violence and strife in the city-</h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This clearly alludes to Babel. David sees Jerusalem as no better than Babel / Babylon; and thereby the Psalm came to have relevance to the exiles with their desire to see judgment upon Babylon. This is however what happened to Absalom's putsch- it imploded and they were confounded.</p>


text:
<h2>Day and night they prowl around on its walls, malice and abuse are also within her-</h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>David had felt that fleeing Jerusalem was next to impossible because he was encircled within the city; hence he felt he needed to be as a bird to fly away, over the top of them. See on :7. His escape was therefore just in time, and was itself a token of God's deliverance, seeing there were opposing forces trying to catch him if he fled.</p>


text:
<h2>Destructive forces are within her, threats and lies don’t depart from her streets-</h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>"Destructive" or "wickedness" is the word used of the wickedness of Ahithophel and Absalom (<a href='B:230 55:11'>Psa 55:11</a>). Solomon's Proverbs seem in places a justification of himself as king over his brother Absalom. He uses the same word to speak of "transgressors are taken in their own wickedness / destructiveness" (<a href='B:240 11:6'>Pro 11:6</a>); how a liar [Absalom] listens to a 'destructive' tongue [in taking advice from Ahithophel] (<a href='B:240 17:4'>Pro 17:4</a>); and how a foolish son [Absalom] is the calamity or destruction of his father (<a href='B:240 19:13'>Pro 19:13</a>).</p>


text:
<h2>For it was not an enemy who insulted me, then I could have endured it; neither was it he who hated me who raised himself up against me, then I would have hidden myself from him-</h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This suggests that Ahithophel's deceit of David went undetected for some time. The equivalent off Ahithophel is clearly Judas in the context of the Lord Jesus. And we wonder how He could have known from the beginning that Judas would betray Him, and yet apparently trust and like him so much that the betrayal came as a shock. We may be helped by considering how Samson surely knew Delilah would betray him, and yet still loved and trusted her, time and again. This is the nature of the human condition, to know and yet act as if we do not know. It is one of the features of love. The problem we have in understanding Samson (if we do have a problem with it) occurs again, in exactly the same form, when we consider the Lord's relationship with Judas. He knew from the beginning who should betray him. He knew that the one with whom He shared especially sweet counsel would betray Him (<a href='B:230 55:12-14'>Psa 55:12-14</a>). And surely the Lord Jesus had reflected on David's experience with Ahithophel. And yet He spoke of how the twelve (including Judas) would sit on twelve thrones, sharing his glory (<a href='B:470 19:28'>Mat 19:28</a>). He loved Judas and treated him as a close friend, even though he knew that this very close friend would betray Him. There is, to my mind, no satisfactory explanation of this apart from to realize the utter humanity of the Lord; that just like Samson, He could sincerely love a man whom he knew would betray Him. This same Lord is the same today and forever. He isn't a hard man. He loves and actively fellowships at the time with those whom later He knows will betray Him, even now. He doesn't just not bother because He knows they will later turn nasty. Lord, we salute you for this, your utter grace:&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>


text:
<h2>But it was you, a man like me, my companion, and my familiar friend-</h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The person in view is clearly Ahithophel, David's counsellor, the "man of my peace" (<a href='B:100 15:12'>2Sa 15:12</a>), referenced also in <a href='B:230 41:9'>Psa 41:9</a>. He was Bathsheba's grandfather, so we can imagine how his bitterness with David developed. The application of this passage to the Lord Jesus is an essay in His utter humanity. Judas was His friend and "a man like me".</p>


text:
<h2>We took sweet fellowship together-</h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>No "house" of God existed in David's time, so perhaps this was edited at a later period. "Fellowship" is better "counsel", and the word carries the idea of decision making. Ahithophel had been David's advisor and confidante. And they had sweet fellowship together- apparently.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>We walked to God’s house in company-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>"In company" is a word only used elsewhere in <a href='B:230 64:2'>Psa 64:2</a>, where it is translated "insurrection", again perhaps in the context of Absalom. The double meaning of the word chosen reflects the duplicity of Ahithophel.</p>


text:
<h2>Let death come suddenly on them, let them go down alive into Sheol. For wickedness is in their dwelling, in their midst-</h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Going alive into the grave is the language of Korah's rebellion. That is how David sees Absalom's rebellion. And yet when Absalom was indeed suddenly slain, David breaks down in grief. We must be careful what we pray for and what we wish upon men, lest it come true and it is not actually what we want.</p>


text:
<h2>As for me, I will call on God. Yahweh will save me-</h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The tone of the Psalm changes; see on :18. The idea of Yahweh's saving is 'Yehoshua', 'Jesus'. David was coming to faith in the essence of the yet future Lord Jesus.</p>


text:
<h2>Evening, morning, and at noon, I will cry out in distress; He will hear my voice-</h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>David's first waking moments were naturally of prayer to God. And this is our pattern. He often mentions his habit of regular prayer morning and evening (<a href='B:230 5:3'>Psa 5:3</a>; <a href='B:230 55:17'>Psa 55:17</a>; <a href='B:230 59:16'>Psa 59:16</a>; <a href='B:230 88:3'>Psa 88:3</a>; <a href='B:230 119:147'>Psa 119:147</a>). This&nbsp; should not have to be enforced upon us, but rather the natural outcome of a life lived in constant connection with God. David perceived that the Mosaic ritual of morning and evening sacrifice taught the sacrifice of prayer should be made in daily life, even though at the time of many of the Psalms, David was exiled from the sanctuary. This exile from organized religion led him to make this connection, as it can for us too.</p>


text:
<h2>He has redeemed my soul in peace from the battle that was against me, although there are many who oppose me-</h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The tone of the Psalm changes from desperate begging for help, to confidence that God has heard him. This may have been because of some direct Divine revelation; but I suggest rather it is what happens in our prayers. Within the prayer we ourselves become persuaded of God's answer and find peace and confidence in Him.</p>


text:
<h2>God, who is enthroned forever, will hear, and answer them. Selah. They never change, those who don’t fear God-</h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>God's eternal kingship perhaps suggests that at some time, these people will come to judgment. For God is sitting as eternal judge, and those who will not change or repent will be judged by Him. At what time that will be- isn't the issue. They will come to judgment.</p>


text:
<h2>He raises his hands against his friends, he has violated his covenant-</h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The individual in view is surely Ahithophel. The covenant in view is presumably that with God; for there is no evidence he had made a covenant with David. But to raise our hand against our brother, to hate our brother, is to break covenant with God- as the New Testament is clear. <a href='B:460 2:10'>Mal 2:10</a> uses the same phrase to break or violate the covenant- and again says we do so if we deal treacherously with our brother.</p>


text:
<h2>His mouth was smooth as butter, but his heart was war. His words were softer than oil, yet they were drawn swords-</h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This laments how words can not reflect the true state of a man’s heart. So why, then, is there so much emphasis on spoken words as the basis for judgment to come? Surely it is that although thoughts will also be judged, and the hypocrites revealed for who they are, it doesn’t follow that a good man sometimes uses ‘corrupt speech’. It’s impossible. A good man cannot bring forth bad words. But a bad man can sometimes bring forth words which seem good on the surface, but which are in fact counterfeit. But it can’t happen another way- a good man’s words aren’t just his surface level sin.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>"Smooth" or slippery is the language used of God's confirmation of Judah in their sinful way (<a href='B:300 23:12'>Jer 23:12</a> = <a href='B:230 35:6'>Psa 35:6</a>); whichever path we choose, we are confirmed in. Those who are of a slippery tongue (<a href='B:230 55:21'>Psa 55:21</a> s:w:) will be confirmed in this; they will, as it were, slip headlong into condemnation. Their own chosen way is their judgment.</p>


text:
<h2>Cast your burden on Yahweh, and He will sustain you. He will never allow the righteous to be moved-</h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>David in his earlier Psalms exalts and boasts to God that his feet have not slipped, indeed he was overly confident that his feet would never slip / "be moved" (<a href='B:230 17:5'>Psa 17:5</a>; <a href='B:230 21:7'>Psa 21:7</a>; <a href='B:230 55:22'>Psa 55:22</a>; <a href='B:230 62:2'>Psa 62:2</a>; <a href='B:230 62:6'>Psa 62:6</a>; <a href='B:230 125:1'>Psa 125:1</a>). His more mature reflection is that he had wrongly said "I shall never slip [AV "be moved"]" (<a href='B:230 30:6'>Psa 30:6</a>), and his feet had indeed slipped, not least over the Bathsheba incident (<a href='B:230 38:16'>Psa 38:16</a>; <a href='B:230 94:18'>Psa 94:18</a>). Solomon didn't learn this lesson, for he likewise assumed that the righteous would never be moved / slip (<a href='B:240 10:30'>Pro 10:30</a>), although he appears to accept that even a righteous man like his father had indeed slipped (<a href='B:240 25:26'>Pro 25:26</a>). And Solomon himself did so, not learning the lesson from his father's mistaken assumption that the righteous can never slip.</p><h2></h2>


text:
<h2>But You, God, will bring them down into the pit of destruction. Bloodthirsty and deceitful men shall not live out half their days, but I will trust in You-</h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'> David's prayer of repentance and request to be saved from "blood guiltiness" (<a href='B:230 51:14'>Psa 51:14</a>) is literally 'from blood'. He was a man of blood and was guilty of Uriah's innocent blood. David had asked for 'men of blood' to be slain (<a href='B:230 55:23'>Psa 55:23</a> s:w:), those who had taken the blood of the innocent (<a href='B:230 94:21'>Psa 94:21</a>), and for 'men of blood' to be expelled from his presence (<a href='B:230 139:19'>Psa 139:19</a>). And here David is writing after his sin with Bathsheba. God was trying to teach David that he was the type of person whom he condemned. And yet it is unclear if he learned that lesson. He asks not only for deliverance, but for judgment upon his enemies, and seems to take comfort in the prospect of their destruction. This is hardly the spirit of the Lord Jesus. Solomon liberally condemns the man who sheds innocent blood (<a href='B:240 6:17'>Pro 6:17</a>; <a href='B:240 28:17'>Pro 28:17</a>), refusing to recognize that his much lauded father had done just this, and was only saved by grace and not by any obedience to wisdom. There is so little grace in the book of Solomon's Proverbs because Solomon had failed to perceive the grace shown to his father.</p><h2></h2>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'>For the Chief Musician. To the tune of Silent Dove in Distant Lands. A poem by David, when the Philistines seized him in Gath-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>As David was as it were in captivity to the Philistines, feeling like a Jewish dove in Gentile lands, so the exiles felt. Hence the usage of this Psalm by them. A case can be made that the whole of book 3 of the Psalter (Psalms 73-89) was written / edited in Babylon. The Psalms of Korah (83-87) seem to reflect the longing of the righteous remnant in Babylon for the temple services. And it is just possible that the entire Psalter was re-edited there in Babylon, under inspiration- for so many Psalms have elements of appropriacy to the exiles in Babylon and the restoration. The LXX titles of Psalms 56 [“Concerning the people that were removed from the Sanctuary”] and 71 [“Of the sons of Jonadab, and the first that were taken captive”] speak for themselves. Likewise the LXX attributes Psalms 146-148 to Haggai and Zechariah.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Many of the Psalms appear to be paired; Psalms 56 and Psalms 57 are an example. They are very similar. The title of Psalms 56 therefore provides a context for Psalms 57, which was "A poem by David, when he fled from Saul, in the cave" (<a href='B:230 57:1'>Psa 57:1</a>). David's time when seized by the Philistines in Gath could refer to some unrecorded capture and detention of him in Gath- the home town of Goliath, whose sons&nbsp; / relatives had also been slain by David's men, and David had slain "ten thousands" of Philistines. Or it could refer to the time when he was serving Achish king of Gath and had to feign himself mad in order to get released. Perhaps things were far tougher for David at that time than recorded in <a href='B:90 21:10-15'>1Sa 21:10-15</a>. Whatever, David took comfort from his situation with Saul (the subject of Psalms 57) and reapplied it to his situation in Gath in Psalms 56. And this is how we too pass through life- experiences in one situation strengthen us for another.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Be merciful to me, God, for man wants to swallow me up. All day long he attacks and oppresses me-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The "attacks" upon David in Gath were surely verbal ones; but he felt them as real beatings and death threats. He was so sensitive to words that today we would likely place him somewhere on the autism spectrum.</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'>My enemies want to swallow me up all day long, for they are many who fight proudly against me-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The word used of Saul wanting to swallow up David in <a href='B:230 57:3'>Psa 57:3</a>. But now it is used of the Gentile enemies of David. This means that Saul was acting as a Gentile to David, and this is quite a common conception in the Psalms; that those Israelites who hated David are treated by him as outside the covenant and effectively Gentiles. It was their hatred which led them to break the covenant, just as hating our brother means we have broken the new covenant.</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'>When I am afraid, I will put my trust in You-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>It seems that David in the crisis in Gath reminded himself of one of his life principles, and kept repeating it to himself- that in times of fear, he would trust in Yahweh. This is the essential stuff of spiritual life; to repeat little phrases like that to ourselves, in both ordinary life and times of crisIsa.</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'>In God, I praise His word. In God do I put my trust. I will not be afraid, what can flesh do to me?<strong>- </strong></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>In the Hezekiah context, this would have been relevant to the reflection that Sennacherib had with him only an arm of flesh (<a href='B:140 32:8'>2Ch 32:8</a>). The "word" David praised and trusted was not the entire scriptures which he had then available. Rather does it refer to the specific prophetic word that he should be king after Saul, and / or that his kingdom would ultimately flourish. This likewise is "the word" he has in view in Psalms 119, rather than "the Bible" generally. In the Hezekiah context, it was Isaiah's prophetic word of deliverance from Assyria which was to be trusted; to trust God's word is to trust Him. For "the word was God". Our attitude to His word is our attitude to Him.</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'>All day long they twist my words, all their thoughts are against me for evil-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The twisting of words apparently applies to the Philistines (:1), but these are also David's thoughts whilst suffering at the hands of Saul and then Absalom's supporters. With us too, circumstances repeat in our lives; our attitudes and faith are developed and tested.</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'>They conspire and lurk, watching my steps, they are eager to take my life-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>See on :5; these are also David's thoughts whilst suffering at the hands of Saul and then Absalom's supporters. His Psalms were rewritten by him and reapplied to different situations, and this is how God also uses His own word, rescheduling and reinterpreting as needed. This explains why in Matthew especially, many New Testament quotations of the Old are not in perfect context; rather is it a case of reapplication and reinterpretation:&nbsp;</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Shall they escape by iniquity? In anger cast down the peoples, God-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>David later reflects that God had indeed cast down the peoples under him (<a href='B:100 22:48'>2Sa 22:48</a>; <a href='B:230 18:47'>Psa 18:47</a>); by saying this he considers that his prayer of <a href='B:230 56:7'>Psa 56:7</a> has been answered. Perhaps when he prayed it, he just wanted God's anger to be poured out immediately, the day of judgment to come there and then, when the scales will be adjusted and men and nations cast down or lifted up. But he reflects that in a sense that had happened in his life, in that the peoples were cast down beneath him.</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'>You number my wanderings-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>David had at this point in his life come to be in Gath and in danger of death; and this was far from the first time in his life he had been in such danger. He saw all his life and every point in it as part of "my wanderings", and they had been "numbered" by God, just as the book of Numbers is God's numbering of Israel's wanderings. He knew God was not unmindful. But LXX "O God, I have declared my life to thee" has a beauty to it; relationship with God involves us telling Him our lives and situations, even though He knows them all.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>You put my tears into Your bottle. Aren’t they in Your book?<strong>- </strong></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Tear bottles were kept by mourners at funerals; they put their tears in a bottle which they then kept in memory of the deceased. But David says that his tears are in God’s bottle. The idea was that your tears went into your bottle. But David was so intimate with God that he perceived that his tears were in fact God’s; and vice versa. Perhaps he considered that he would die in Gath (see on :1), and God would mourn for him and record his death.</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Then my enemies shall turn back in the day that I call. I know this, that God is for me-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Seeing he was surrounded in Gath, this was quite some faith. But I suggested on :8 that he may have considered the possibility that he was meant to die in Gath. And so the "day" he would in the future "call" would then refer to the day of judgment. And even in defeat and death, God was still "for me". This is an abiding principle to live by.</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'>In God, I will praise His word. In Yahweh, I will praise His word-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The "word" David praised and trusted was not the entire scriptures which he had then available. Rather does it refer to the specific prophetic word that he should be king after Saul, and / or that his kingdom would ultimately flourish. This likewise is "the word" he has in view in Psalms 119, rather than "the Bible" generally. In the Hezekiah context, it was Isaiah's prophetic word of deliverance from Assyria which was to be trusted; to trust God's word is to trust Him. For "the word was God". Our attitude to His word is our attitude to Him.</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'>I have put my trust in God; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?<strong>- </strong></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>It seems that David in the crisis in Gath reminded himself of one of his life principles, and kept repeating it to himself- that in times of fear, he would trust in Yahweh. This is the essential stuff of spiritual life; to repeat little phrases like that to ourselves, in both ordinary life and times of crisIsa.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Your vows are on me, God. I will give thank offerings to You-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This promise to offer thank offerings presupposes that David would again one day be free to return to Zion or to the sanctuary; unless he offered in the wilderness.</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'>For You have delivered my soul from death, and prevented my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in the light of the living- </p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This may have been added after the deliverance; or it could be that David, as he sometimes does, speaks of future things as being in the past. This is what faith is about- believing in things from God's viewpoint, that what is yet future is now, in essence, for those with Him.</p><h2></h2>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>For the Chief Musician. To the tune of Do Not Destroy. A poem by David, when he fled from Saul, in the cave-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Many of the Psalms appear to be paired; Psalms 56 and Psalms 57 are an example. They are very similar. The title of Psalms 56 ["when seized by the Philistines in Gath"] therefore provides a context for Psalms 57, which was "A poem by David, when he fled from Saul, in the cave" (<a href='B:230 57:1'>Psa 57:1</a>). David's time when seized by the Philistines in Gath could refer to some unrecorded capture and detention of him in Gath- the home town of Goliath, whose sons&nbsp; / relatives had also been slain by David's men, and David had slain "ten thousands" of Philistines. Or it could refer to the time when he was serving Achish king of Gath and had to feign himself mad in order to get released. Perhaps things were far tougher for David at that time than recorded in <a href='B:90 21:10-15'>1Sa 21:10-15</a>. Whatever, David took comfort from his situation with Saul (the subject of Psalms 57) and reapplied it to his situation in Gath in Psalms 56. And this is how we too pass through life- experiences in one situation strengthen us for another.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Be merciful to me, God, be merciful to me, for my soul takes refuge in You-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The idea is that God was David's city of refuge. These cities were for those who needed to flee when being chased by the avenger of blood (<a href='B:40 35:26'>Num 35:26</a>). The imagery is very appropriate to David when fleeing from Saul and Absalom. David's constant meditation upon God's law would have included the sections about the cities of refuge; he realized that actually no such city was available for him, but the spirit of the law led him to reflect that Yahweh was his refuge, wherever he was. David tends to open wilderness Psalms with this reflection, just as we may tend to begin prayers with the same opening phrase and thoughts (<a href='B:230 7:1'>Psa 7:1</a>; <a href='B:230 11:1'>Psa 11:1</a>; <a href='B:230 16:1'>Psa 16:1</a>; <a href='B:230 31:1'>Psa 31:1</a>; <a href='B:230 57:1'>Psa 57:1</a>; <a href='B:230 71:1'>Psa 71:1</a>).</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Yes, in the shadow of Your wings I will take refuge, until disaster has passed-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Likewise David realized that the cherubim shadowing the mercy seat were over him; he was as it were located on the very mercy seat. But he was nowhere near the sanctuary, and possibly in a state of ritual uncleanness and not technically obedient to the law. But he perceived from that same law that God is in fact beyond the confines of ritual. With God in his heart, he was as it were covered by His glory and the blood of atonement on the mercy seat.</p>


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<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>I cry out to God Most High, to God who accomplishes my requests for me-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The thought of the highness and power of God is an inspiration to faith in prayer. The requests of prayer are "accomplished"; not answered by a simple flash action, but involve working out so many facets of the answer.</p>


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<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>He will send from heaven and save me, He rebukes the one who is pursuing me. Selah. God will send out His grace and His truth-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The word "send" is normally translated 'to send away, to let depart', implying physical movement away. This implies Angels are physically sent over space to answer prayer. The same word occurs in other verses where this same idea stands up well- e:g. <a href='B:230 144:7'>Psa 144:7</a> "Send Thine hand (an Angel) from Heaven::.". It seems that great stress is placed in Scripture on the Angels physically moving through space, both on the earth and between Heaven and earth, in order to fulfil their tasks, rather than being static in Heaven or earth and bringing things about by just willing them to happen. See on <a href='B:10 18:10'>Gen 18:10</a></p>


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<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>My soul is among lions. I lie among those who are set on fire, even the sons of men, whose teeth are spears and arrows, and their tongue a sharp sword-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This could be understood as a reference to the men with David. He lay down to sleep next to them. David's men represent the followers of the Lord Jesus (cp. <a href='B:650 13:13'>Heb 13:13</a>). David's motley crew were bitter men, "them that are set on fire::. whose teeth are spears and arrows, and their tongue a sharp sword" (<a href='B:230 57:4'>Psa 57:4</a>). So rough were they that David says that having to live with them almost destroyed him spiritually (<a href='B:90 26:19'>1Sa 26:19</a>). This typology would explain why the body of Christ seems full of bitter men and women with hard words- who eventually will be the rulers in Messiah's Kingdom, after the pattern of David's men. There can be no misunderstanding of David as some softie who let anything go. Of course he was a sensitive man, with a soft heart. The way others’ words so hurt him is evidence enough of this (<a href='B:230 57:4'>Psa 57:4</a>). Yet this was marvellously blended with his clear recognition of evil and firmly expressed desire not to mix with it.</p>


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<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Be exalted, God, above the heavens! Let Your glory be above all the earth!<strong>- </strong></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>David had earlier lamented that Saul "My enemy" (= Saul, <a href='B:90 18:29'>1Sa 18:29</a>; <a href='B:90 19:17'>1Sa 19:17</a>) was "exalted over me" (<a href='B:230 13:2'>Psa 13:2</a> s:w:). The David who had once triumphed over his enemy Goliath now felt that Saul was triumphing over him. This, in the bigger Divine picture, may have been to keep David from pride at the amazing victory and triumph. And he learned the lesson. David was indeed to triumph / be exalted over Saul (<a href='B:230 18:48'>Psa 18:48</a>), but he saw it is God triumphing / being exalted (<a href='B:230 18:46'>Psa 18:46</a>). His praise Psalms are full of this word and idea- of the exaltation of God (<a href='B:230 57:5'>Psa 57:5</a>; <a href='B:230 57:11'>Psa 57:11</a>) and not himself.</p>


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<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>They have prepared a net for my steps. My soul is bowed down, they dig a snare before me. They fall into its midst themselves. Selah-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>It is a common theme that the wicked snare themselves, falling into their own pit, judged by their own words, rather than God specifically snaring them (e:g. <a href='B:230 7:15'>Psa 7:15</a>; <a href='B:230 9:15'>Psa 9:15</a>; <a href='B:230 57:6'>Psa 57:6</a>; <a href='B:240 26:27'>Pro 26:27</a>; <a href='B:240 28:10'>Pro 28:10</a>; <a href='B:250 10:8'>Ecc 10:8</a>):&nbsp; From their own mouth and words men will be judged (<a href='B:470 12:37'>Mat 12:37</a>; <a href='B:490 19:22'>Luk 19:22</a> cp. <a href='B:100 1:16'>2Sa 1:16</a>; <a href='B:110 20:40'>1Ki 20:40</a>). It could even be that the Lord cites the condemnatory words of the rejected uttered during their lifetimes and leaves these as their condemnation. Woe, therefore, to he or she who has said unrepentantly that they don’t want to be in the Kingdom if brother x or sister y are going to be there. “He that keepeth his mouth keepeth his life; but he that openeth wide his lips [in this life] shall have destruction” at judgment day (<a href='B:240 13:3'>Pro 13:3</a>).</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The snare was dug "before me". Solomon alludes to this in <a href='B:240 1:17'>Pro 1:17</a> "For in vain is the net spread in the sight of any bird". All Solomon says is inspired truth, but clearly he has a subtext of justifying his father David; this was an obsession with him.</p>


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<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>My heart is steadfast, God, my heart is steadfast. I will sing, yes, I will sing praises-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>David had earlier understood that for the humble and righteous, God can "prepare their heart" (<a href='B:230 10:17'>Psa 10:17</a>). This is evidence enough that God works directly upon the human heart and psychology, which He does today through the work of His Spirit upon the human spirit. For it is men who must prepare their heart in prayer and relationship toward God (s:w. <a href='B:140 12:14'>2Ch 12:14</a>; <a href='B:220 11:13'>Job 11:13</a>; <a href='B:230 7:9'>Psa 7:9</a>). But God can also do this for the humble. Hence David later asks God to create in him a 'prepared' heart (s:w. <a href='B:230 51:10'>Psa 51:10</a>). And God heard; for the same phrase is used of how God 'prepared' or (AV) "fixed" / NEV 'made steadfast' his heart (<a href='B:230 57:7'>Psa 57:7</a>; <a href='B:230 108:1'>Psa 108:1</a>; <a href='B:230 112:7'>Psa 112:7</a>). In allusion to this, Solomon was to later reflect that God can direct or 'prepare' (s:w:) the heart of man, even if he is thinking to direct his steps elsewhere (<a href='B:240 16:9'>Pro 16:9</a>).</p>


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<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Wake up, my glory! Wake up, psaltery and harp! I will wake up the dawn-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Or as AV "I myself will awake early". The Psalms continually stress the importance of starting each day with the Lord; David gives the impression his heart was bursting with praise as he awoke, and he instinctively wanted to grab his harp and play and sing praise.</p>


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<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>I will give thanks to You, Lord, among the peoples, I will sing praises to You among the nations-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>David knew his sinfulness, he knew his reliance upon the grace of God, more and more as he got older; and increasingly he wanted to spread the knowledge of Israel's God to the Gentile nations around him. One would have thought that after the Bathsheba incident, David would have kept his mouth shut so far as telling other people how to live was concerned. But instead, we find an increasing emphasis in the Psalms (chronologically) upon David's desire to teach others of God's ways- particularly the surrounding Gentile peoples, before whom David had been disgraced over Bathsheba, not to mention from his two faced allegiance to Achish (<a href='B:90 27:8-12'>1Sa 27:8-12</a>). There is real stress upon this evangelistic fervour of David (<a href='B:230 4:3'>Psa 4:3</a>; <a href='B:230 18:49'>Psa 18:49</a>; <a href='B:230 22:25'>Psa 22:25</a>; <a href='B:230 22:31'>Psa 22:31</a>; <a href='B:230 35:18'>Psa 35:18</a>; <a href='B:230 40:9-10'>Psa 40:9-10</a>; <a href='B:230 57:9'>Psa 57:9</a>; <a href='B:230 62:8'>Psa 62:8</a>; <a href='B:230 66:5'>Psa 66:5</a>; <a href='B:230 66:16'>Psa 66:16</a>; <a href='B:230 95:1'>Psa 95:1</a>; <a href='B:230 95:8'>Psa 95:8</a>; <a href='B:230 96:5-8'>Psa 96:5-8</a>; <a href='B:230 96:10'>Psa 96:10</a>; <a href='B:230 100:1-4'>Psa 100:1-4</a>; <a href='B:230 105:1-2'>Psa 105:1-2</a>; <a href='B:230 119:27'>Psa 119:27</a>; <a href='B:230 145:5-6'>Psa 145:5-6</a>; <a href='B:230 145:12'>Psa 145:12</a>). Indeed, <a href='B:230 71:18'>Psa 71:18</a> records the "old and greyheaded" David pleading with God not to die until he had taught "thy strength unto this generation". As with Paul years later, the only reason he wanted to stay alive was in order to witness the Gospel of grace to others. David&nbsp;therefore coped with his deep inner traumas by looking out of himself to those around him, eagerly desiring to share with them the pureness of God's grace. He didn't do this as some kind of self-help psychiatry; it came naturally from a realization of his own sinfulness and God's mercy, and the wonderful willingness&nbsp;of God to extend this to men.</p>


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<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>For Your great grace reaches to the heavens, and Your truth to the skies-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The message David wanted to preach to the Gentiles (:9) was that God's grace stretches between heaven and earth. "Mercy / grace and truth" is a phrase often used about the promises to Abraham. David saw these as the parade example of God's grace, and he wanted to share that covenant with the Gentiles (:9). But the observation could be made that nearly all the "Gentiles" in the land [eretz] promised to Abraham were in fact Abraham's seed in some way anyway. But David is directing them back to their roots and urging them to accept the covenant made with their forefather instead of the idols they had chosen.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><h2>Be exalted, God, above the heavens. Let Your glory be over all the earth- The earth / eretz refers to the land promised to Abraham. It was David's desire that God be exalted there, lifted up to heaven, as it were, by the people living there. See on :10. David was a man of wide spiritual vision. The visible glory of God was in those days only seen over the ark of the covenant; but he had a vision of it spreading from there over the entire "earth", and here he is praying for that day to come about. But as noted on :9, he realized [as we must in our day] that this will only happen once the Gospel has been taken to "all the earth".</h2><h2></h2>


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<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>For the Chief Musician. To the tune of Do Not Destroy. A poem by David-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This Psalm is a criticism of corrupt judges and leadership. Such criticism of Israel's judges is common in the prophets (<a href='B:290 1:16-25'>Isa 1:16-25</a>; <a href='B:290 10:1-4'>Isa 10:1-4</a>; <a href='B:300 5:26-29'>Jer 5:26-29</a>; <a href='B:400 3:9-12'>Mic 3:9-12</a>). So it could refer to the situation in Israel at the time of Saul or perhaps during Absalom's brief reign. But the Psalm may well have been reused regarding the corrupt leadership of Babylon over the exiles, or of the corrupt Jewish leadership within Babylon.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Do you indeed speak righteousness, silent ones? Do you judge blamelessly, you sons of men?<strong>- </strong></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The sin of keeping silence in the face of others' oppression is perhaps the most common sin of omission. So many who have struggled against abusive regimes have come to this conclusion- that the real abusers were all the good people who remained silent and thus empowered abusive regimes. "Do ye indeed in silence speak righteousness?" (<a href='B:230 58:1'>Psa 58:1</a> RV). Speaking and acting righteously whilst keeping silent about others' abuse is not righteousness. But "silent ones", Heb. elem, may be an intentional parody of elohim, mighty ones, a term also used for Israel's judges, who were intended to reflect the judgment of the elohim above.</p>


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<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>No, in your heart you plot injustice. You measure out the violence of your hands in the earth-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>David again comes over as (overly?) confident of knowing the hearts of men. It could be argued that he believed that works reflect thoughts, as the Lord also taught, and therefore reasoned back from actions to thoughts. Instead of measuring out justice, they measured out violence.</p>


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<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The wicked go astray from the womb. They are wayward as soon as they are born, speaking lies-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This is not true in real time. But for timeless God, this is His perspective on them. Likewise in other cases He expresses His timelessness in ways which men can only understand as predestination. Or we could simply understand this as hyperbole, an exaggerated statement to the effect that the wicked go wrong from their youth. Or it could be that David is imputing too much sin to his enemies. See on :5.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>He clearly refers here to a category of people, "the wicked", and not to all humanity. So it cannot be used as any proof that all human beings are like this from birth. We must remember that whatever we posit about human nature generally, we are saying about the Lord Jesus. For He shared our nature completely, and yet was holy, harmless and undefiled (<a href='B:650 7:26'>Heb 7:26</a>).</p>


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<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Their poison is like the poison of a snake; like a deaf cobra that stops its ear-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>David presents these people as the seed of the serpent of <a href='B:10 3:15'>Gen 3:15</a>, abusing the seed of the woman, the righteous. Solomon speaks of the wicked within Israel as stopping their ears at the cry of the poor (<a href='B:240 21:13'>Pro 21:13</a> s:w:). He is alluding to how David his father had complained that the judges of Israel were like cobras who stopped their ear to the voice of charmers, refusing the voice of God's word (<a href='B:230 58:4'>Psa 58:4</a> s:w:). Connecting the ideas, the cry of the poor is the cry of God's word to us; our response to them is our response to them.</p>


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<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>which doesn’t listen to the voice of charmers, no matter how skilful the charmer may be-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Cobras are not actually deaf, but they can appear deaf to attempts to charm them with words and sounds. This provides some balance to the hyperbole of :3. The wicked are given the chance to respond to God's word, but refuse it- and so their biographies appear to be consistently wicked even from their youth. 'Not listening to the voice' is the phrase so often used of Israel's refusal to listen to God's voice (s:w. <a href='B:230 81:11'>Psa 81:11</a>; <a href='B:230 106:25'>Psa 106:25</a>; <a href='B:300 3:13'>Jer 3:13</a> etc:). Even those who are snakes can be charmed by God's word- if they unstop their ears.</p>


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<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Break their teeth, God, in their mouth. Break out the great teeth of the young lions, Yahweh-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Lions are symbolic of Israel's Gentile enemies, as well as of the leadership of Judah in <a href='B:330 19:3-6'>Eze 19:3-6</a>. God's apostate people are often likened to Gentiles; hence the double symbolism of the lion, representing both them and also the Gentiles.</p>


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<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Let them vanish as water that flows away. When they draw the bow, let their arrows be made blunt-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This could be asking for the judgments of the corrupt judges and leadership to be somehow rendered powerless. But again we note with concern that instead of wishing their repentance and salvation, David seems quite obsessed with wishing their condemnation. Whereas God has no joy at all in the death of the wicked (<a href='B:330 33:11'>Eze 33:11</a>). In the Hezekiah context we note that the only other usage of the phrase "vanish as water" is in <a href='B:290 8:6'>Isa 8:6</a>.</p>


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<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Let them be like the path of a snail which melts and passes away, like the stillborn child, who has not seen the sun-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The idea may be that the snail appears to be melting into nothing during its very path through life; and this was how it was with the wicked. This idea is developed in :9; judgment is in essence now.</p>


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<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Before your pots can feel the heat of the thorns, he will sweep away the green and the burning alike-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This suggests that David expected the time of judgment to come very soon. Divine judgment was to come as a whirlwind from the desert, suddenly sweeping away the kindling which desert travellers had made to heat their pots. He saw his enemies as kindling burning, some of it green and not good kindling; but before they could generate much heat, they were to be swept away in judgment. This implies that they were as it were on fire already; the essence of judgment is going on now. Cheyne offers: "Before your pots can feel the thorns, and while your flesh (i:e. the flesh in the pots, on which you are about to feast) is still raw, the hot wrath of Jehovah shall sweep it away".</p>


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<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The righteous shall rejoice when he sees the vengeance. He shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Again it seems that David's reveling in the blood of the condemned is out of step with the God who takes no pleasure [cp. 'rejoicing'] in the death of the wicked (<a href='B:330 33:11'>Eze 33:11</a>). It was perhaps because of David's attitude to "blood" rather than simply his shedding of blood which disqualified him from building the temple; God was not pleased with this attitude (<a href='B:130 22:8'>1Ch 22:8</a>).</p>


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<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>so that men shall say, Most certainly there is a reward for the righteous. Most certainly there is a God who judges the earth- </p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>David here looks ahead to the day of final judgment. But again as noted on :10, we wonder at his logic; he appears to think that rejoicing in the death of the wicked therefore implies there is a great reward for the righteous. Grace seems not to factor, neither the awareness that the righteous have done what the wicked have done, and are saved by grace through faith rather than their works.</p><h2></h2>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>For the Chief Musician. To the tune of Do Not Destroy. A poem by David, when Saul sent, and they watched the house to kill him-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>As Saul "watched" or "kept" the house, David's response was to keep or watch over God's ways (:9 s:w:).</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Deliver me from my enemies, my God; lift me on high from those who rise up against me-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>"Redeem / deliver me::." is a quotation from Jacob's words when he found his relative Esau barring his path back home (<a href='B:10 32:11'>Gen 32:11</a>; <a href='B:10 32:30'>Gen 32:30</a>). And the word is used of David's desire for deliverance from Saul (<a href='B:90 26:24'>1Sa 26:24</a>); and yet this was a redemption unappreciated by him as it ought to have been (<a href='B:100 12:7'>2Sa 12:7</a>). Finally David recognized that this prayer was answered (<a href='B:100 22:18'>2Sa 22:18</a>; <a href='B:100 22:49'>2Sa 22:49</a>). As David had earlier prayed for redemption / deliverance from Saul and his enemies (<a href='B:230 31:15'>Psa 31:15</a>; <a href='B:230 59:1'>Psa 59:1</a>; <a href='B:230 144:7'>Psa 144:7</a>), he would later pray for redemption / deliverance from his sins (<a href='B:230 39:8'>Psa 39:8</a>; <a href='B:230 79:9'>Psa 79:9</a>). </p>


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<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Deliver me from the workers of iniquity, save me from the bloodthirsty men-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>"Workers of iniquity" is a phrase used only in Job (<a href='B:220 31:3'>Job 31:3</a>; <a href='B:220 34:8'>Job 34:8</a>; <a href='B:220 34:22'>Job 34:22</a>) and then by David (with Solomon later alluding to David's usage of the phrase). Apart from the law of Moses, Job was likely the only "scripture" David had access to; and so he often alludes to Job, seeing in him a parade example of innocent suffering. We too have been given scripture, which is largely a collection of biographies, in order to see that man is not alone in his apparently unique experiences; each are in essence passing through that which has already been experienced amongst God's people.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>For, behold, they lie in wait for my soul. The mighty gather themselves together against me-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'> "Lie in wait" is the word for ambush. Solomon often uses the word, as if it is for him a major characteristic of sinners (<a href='B:240 1:11'>Pro 1:11</a>; <a href='B:240 1:18'>Pro 1:18</a>; <a href='B:240 7:12'>Pro 7:12</a>; <a href='B:240 12:6'>Pro 12:6</a>; <a href='B:240 23:28'>Pro 23:28</a>; <a href='B:240 24:15'>Pro 24:15</a>). But it's a rather specific word to use so often. It's as if Solomon is consciously alluding to his father's experiences at the hands of the house of Saul (s:w. <a href='B:230 10:9'>Psa 10:9</a>; <a href='B:230 59:3'>Psa 59:3</a>), whom Solomon considered a threat to his own kingship. And so he seems to rather like using the term about sinners, as if using his wisdom to have a dig at his immediate opposition.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Not for my disobedience, nor for my sin, Yahweh-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Reading through the book of Psalms in one or two sittings reveals that frequent and intense self-examination was a leading characteristic of David:, especially while on the run from Saul; as if he began to pick up false guilt from how he was being treated, wondering if it was all in fact justified (<a href='B:230 4:4'>Psa 4:4</a>; <a href='B:230 7:3'>Psa 7:3</a>; <a href='B:230 17:3'>Psa 17:3</a>; <a href='B:230 18:20-24'>Psa 18:20-24</a>; <a href='B:230 19:12'>Psa 19:12</a>; <a href='B:230 26:1'>Psa 26:1</a>; <a href='B:230 39:1'>Psa 39:1</a>; <a href='B:230 59:3'>Psa 59:3</a>; <a href='B:230 66:18'>Psa 66:18</a>; <a href='B:230 77:6'>Psa 77:6</a>; <a href='B:230 86:2'>Psa 86:2</a>; <a href='B:230 101:2'>Psa 101:2</a>; <a href='B:230 109:3'>Psa 109:3</a>; <a href='B:230 139:23-24'>Psa 139:23-24</a>).</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>I have done no wrong, yet they are ready to attack me. Rise up, behold, and help me!<strong>- </strong></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>As noted on :5, this attitude was to change after his sin with Bathsheba. The injustice of Saul's persecution weighed heavily on David's mind in the Psalms written at this time. But clearly this led him too far along the road of self righteousness and assumption of his general perfection, which led him into the sin with Bathsheba. We too can wrongly respond to false accusation in the same way.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>You, Yahweh God of Armies, the God of Israel, rouse Yourself to punish the nations. Show no mercy to the wicked traitors. Selah-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>"Show mercy" is the term used in David's plea for forgiveness in <a href='B:230 41:4'>Psa 41:4</a>; <a href='B:230 51:1'>Psa 51:1</a>. "I have done no wrong" (:4) was typical of David's attitude before the sin with Bathsheba. He was taught that mercy to the undeserving is the essence of the Gospel; whereas previously he had railed against the display of any such mercy. AV "Be not merciful to any wicked transgressors" heightens the lesson. "Transgressors" or "traitors" is the term used by David of Saul and his supporters (<a href='B:230 25:3'>Psa 25:3</a>; <a href='B:230 59:5'>Psa 59:5</a>; <a href='B:230 119:158'>Psa 119:158</a>). Solomon uses this term, teaching that "transgressors" must be rooted out of the earth / eretz promised to Abraham (<a href='B:240 2:22'>Pro 2:22</a>), and that the "transgressors" are to face judgment (<a href='B:240 11:3'>Pro 11:3</a>; <a href='B:240 11:6'>Pro 11:6</a>; <a href='B:240 13:2'>Pro 13:2</a>; <a href='B:240 21:18'>Pro 21:18</a>; <a href='B:240 22:12'>Pro 22:12</a>; <a href='B:240 23:28'>Pro 23:28</a>; <a href='B:240 25:19'>Pro 25:19</a>). All Solomon says is true, but he clearly has in view the house and supporters of Saul, who were a group he felt he needed to repress in order to keep his own kingdom and power intact.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>They return at evening, howling like dogs, and prowl around the city-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This is a description of Saul's men prowling around the city, ensuring David didn't escape (:1). But the language is repeated in :14, with the Hebrew suggesting they would be made to do this again- in the condemnation of the last day. As they had prowled around the perimeters of the city like dogs, so they would be thrown out of Zion in the last day and wander in the darkness of rejection and condemnation. The idea is that they were living out their own condemnation. Their hatred of their brother led them to act out ahead of time the condemnation of the wicked.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Behold, they spew with their mouth; swords are in their lips-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Here again we see the lesson of Job's sufferings; that human words are of immense power, and can be as swords.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>For, they say, who hears us?<strong>- </strong></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Here we have an example of God perceiving what human words and attitudes mean in reality, before Him. For they likely didn't actually exalt that nobody heard their words, and that therefore they were unaccountable to God. But this was what their attitudes implied.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>But You, Yahweh, laugh at them. You scoff at all the nations-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>David was in an apparently hopeless position, with the house he was in, and the entire city, encicled by Saul's men (:1,6). But he was confident that at that moment, Yahweh was laughing at those men. He was treating them as the Gentile nations. David commonly perceives the hateful and apostate within Israel as mere Gentiles. Or perhaps "the nations" was added under inspiration at a later point, perhaps during the exile.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Oh my Strength, I watch for You-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>As Saul "watched" or "kept" the house, David's response was to keep or watch over God's ways (:1 s:w:).</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>For God is my high tower-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>David sees that Yahweh will be a "high tower" or place of refuge at the day of future judgment (<a href='B:230 9:8-9'>Psa 9:8-9</a>, quoted about this in <a href='B:510 17:31'>Act 17:31</a>). This was his ultimate defence, rather than the house in which he was taking refuge at the time (:1). But David feels God has been like this to him in this life (<a href='B:100 22:3'>2Sa 22:3</a>; <a href='B:230 18:2'>Psa 18:2</a>; <a href='B:230 46:7'>Psa 46:7</a>; <a href='B:230 48:3'>Psa 48:3</a>; <a href='B:230 59:9'>Psa 59:9</a>; <a href='B:230 59:16-17'>Psa 59:16-17</a>; <a href='B:230 62:2'>Psa 62:2</a>; <a href='B:230 94:22'>Psa 94:22</a>; <a href='B:230 144:2'>Psa 144:2</a>). He therefore sees a seamless experience in his relationship with God in this life, and at the future day of judgment. God saves us right now and is a refuge for us in countless life situations; and this is the guarantee that He will be likewise at the last day.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>My God will go before me with His grace-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>David was inside his house surrounded by his enemies (:1), and escaped through a window. As he planned the escape, he believed that God's grace would go before him. At the end of his life he appears to reflect upon this incident, glorying that although he was "compassed about" with the threat of death, seeing the house was surrounded by Saul's men intending to kill him; yet God's grace had somehow gone before David and prepared a way of escape (<a href='B:230 18:5'>Psa 18:5</a>; <a href='B:230 18:18'>Psa 18:18</a> s:w:).</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>God will let me look at my enemies in triumph-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>AV "See my desire upon my enemies". David's desire to see his enemies condemned seems to sharply contradict the Father who has no pleasure in the death of the wicked (<a href='B:330 33:11'>Eze 33:11</a>).</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Don’t kill them immediately, or my people may forget. Scatter them by Your power-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>David wanted them to be destroyed (:13), but he wanted them to be scattered and then destroyed, so that their doom would be a lesson to as many people as possible. This was what happened to God's apostate people- they were scattered as a lesson to the nations.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>And bring them down-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The phrase is usually used by David to mean 'bring them down to the grave'.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Lord our shield-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Another allusion to the promise that God would be a shield to Abraham and his seed. The promises to Abraham were continually appealed to by David in his times of crises.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>For the sin of their mouth, and the words of their lips, let them be caught in their pride-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>We note how "sin" and "words" are paralleled. Pride and words spoken are the basis for their condemnation- things which would be shrugged off merely as surface level weakness by many today.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>For the curses and lies which they utter-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>There were no expletives used in ancient languages. The curses they uttered were imprecations for Divine judgment upon David; and he asks for these curses to come true for them. But again we note the lack of grace and desire for their repentance on David's part.</p>


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<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Consume them in wrath, consume them, and they will be no more. Let them know that God rules in Jacob, to the ends of the earth. Selah-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The idea may be that he wanted the God of Jacob to be known as king throughout the eretz promised to Abraham. He wished for the Kingdom, the dominion of the king, to be known within that entire territory. And David considered that the destruction of the wicked would achieve thIsa.</p>


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<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>At evening let them return. Let them howl like a dog, and go around the city-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The ecclesia in the wilderness were ‘types of us’. They were rejected from entry into the Kingdom; and when that finally sunk in, they “returned [s:w. convert, turn back] and wept before the Lord; but the Lord would not hearken to your voice” (<a href='B:50 1:45'>Deu 1:45</a>). The rejected will “return [s:w. convert] at evening: they make a noise like a dog [whining for acceptance], and go round about the city [cp. the foolish virgins knocking on the closed door]”. This is the picture of <a href='B:730 22:15'>Rev 22:15</a>, where the dogs wander outside the closed city of Zion. The language here repeats that of :6. This was a description of Saul's men prowling around the city, ensuring David didn't escape (:1). But the language is repeated here in :14, but with the Hebrew suggesting they would be made to do this again- in the condemnation of the last day. As they had prowled around the perimeters of the city like dogs, so they would be thrown out of Zion in the last day and wander in the darkness of rejection and condemnation. The idea is that they were living out their own condemnation. Their hatred of their brother led them to act out ahead of time the condemnation of the wicked.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>They shall wander up and down for food, and howl all night because they aren’t satisfied-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>David was confident that God would deliver him from his encirclement, and that all who were out watching for him that night would find he had escaped and be "not satisfied". But he sees this as looking forward to their ultimate disappointment in the condemnation of the last day; see on :14. The lack of "satisfaction" is a major theme in the descriptions of condemnation for those who break the covenant (s:w. <a href='B:30 26:26'>Lev 26:26</a>). And it is the principle we must live by today; that the only satisfaction is in the things of God's Kingdom. Even in this life, the eye is not "satisfied" with seeing or wealth (s:w. <a href='B:240 27:20'>Pro 27:20</a>; <a href='B:250 1:8'>Ecc 1:8</a>; <a href='B:250 4:8'>Ecc 4:8</a>; <a href='B:250 5:10'>Ecc 5:10</a>). And those who seek such satisfaction from those things will find that dissatisfaction is the lead characteristic of their condemnation (<a href='B:230 59:15'>Psa 59:15</a>). Tragically Solomon knew the truth of all this but lived otherwise; just as so many do who give lip service to the idea that the things of the flesh cannot satisfy.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>But I will sing of Your strength. Yes, I will sing aloud of Your grace in the morning. For You have been my high tower, a refuge in the day of my distress-</p><h2>David escaped by night from his house when surrounded by Saul's men (:1). This Psalm is his confident prayer before escaping out of the window. He was confident that by morning he would be safe and able to praise God for the deliverance. But the words also have generic reference to how David's first waking moments were naturally of prayer to God. And this is our pattern. He often mentions his habit of regular prayer morning and evening (<a href='B:230 5:3'>Psa 5:3</a>; <a href='B:230 55:17'>Psa 55:17</a>; <a href='B:230 59:16'>Psa 59:16</a>; <a href='B:230 88:3'>Psa 88:3</a>; <a href='B:230 119:147'>Psa 119:147</a>). This&nbsp; should not have to be enforced upon us, but rather the natural outcome of a life lived in constant connection with God. David perceived that the Mosaic ritual of morning and evening sacrifice taught the sacrifice of prayer should be made in daily life, even though at the time of many of the Psalms, David was exiled from the sanctuary. This exile from organized religion led him to make this connection, as it can for us too.</h2>


text:
<h2>For the Chief Musician. To the tune of The Lily of the Covenant. A teaching poem by David, when he fought with Aram Naharaim and with Aram Zobah, and Joab returned, and killed twelve thousand of Edom in the Valley of Salt-</h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>God not going out with Israel's armies, and their turning back from their enemies at this time (:10; <a href='B:230 44:10'>Psa 44:10</a>), is all the language of the punishments for Israel breaking the covenant. But this Psalms 60 is a celebration of victory; a victory given because they had kept the covenant (:1). So the idea may be that David saw in the victory that now Israel were back in covenant relationship with Yahweh. Hence it is "to the tune of The Lily of the Covenant".</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>God, You have rejected us. You have broken us down, You have been angry. Restore us again-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The Psalm is clearly related to Psalms 44, which appears to be a comment upon a temporary set back and defeat during this campaign against Edom. But despite this, the Psalm glorifies how God had come through for His people, despite the temporary reverses. See on :10,11.</p>


text:
<h2>You have made the land tremble, You have torn it. Mend its fractures, for it quakes-</h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>"Fractures" is "breaches", and we wonder whether the Psalm was rewritten or reapplied with relevance to the exiles. A case can be made that the whole of book 3 of the Psalter (Psalms 73-89) was written / edited in Babylon. The Psalms of Korah (83-87) seem to reflect the longing of the righteous remnant in Babylon for the temple services. And it is just possible that the entire Psalter was re-edited there in Babylon, under inspiration- for so many Psalms have elements of appropriacy to the exiles in Babylon and the restoration. The LXX titles of Psalms 56 [“Concerning the people that were removed from the Sanctuary”] and 71 [“Of the sons of Jonadab, and the first that were taken captive”] speak for themselves. Likewise the LXX attributes Psalms 146-148 to Haggai and Zechariah. Even Psalms 60, whose title apparently refers to David, is full of reference to the exiles: "O God, You have scattered us [recognizing God's hand in the Babylonian scattering of Judah]; O restore us again [RV]"; to which God responds that the land is in fact His and His alone (<a href='B:230 60:6-9'>Psa 60:6-9</a>), i:e. Judah did not in His eyes belong to the Babylonian nor Persian empires. The request for God to "heal the breaches" (<a href='B:230 60:2'>Psa 60:2</a>) was answered in that God raised up Ezra and Nehemiah with the potential power to indeed mend the breaches in Jerusalem and the temple.</p>


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<h2>You have shown Your people hard things, You have made us drink the wine that makes us stagger-</h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Taking the cup of wine is a double symbol: of blessing (<a href='B:530 10:16'>1Co 10:16</a>; <a href='B:530 11:25'>1Co 11:25</a>), and of condemnation (<a href='B:230 60:3'>Psa 60:3</a>; <a href='B:230 75:8'>Psa 75:8</a>; <a href='B:290 51:17'>Isa 51:17</a>; <a href='B:300 25:15'>Jer 25:15</a>; <a href='B:730 14:10'>Rev 14:10</a>; <a href='B:730 16:19'>Rev 16:19</a>). Why this use of a double symbol? Surely the Lord designed this sacrament in order to highlight the two ways which are placed before us by taking that cup: it is either to our blessing, or to our condemnation. Each breaking of bread is a further stage along one of those two roads. The relevance of this to the exiles is that indeed they had been shown hard things and had drunk the wine of condemnation, 'staggering' as a result of the invasion (<a href='B:290 29:9'>Isa 29:9</a>). They themselves were stiffnecked (s:w. "hard"), and reaped an appropriate judgment.</p>


text:
<h2>You have given a banner to those who fear You, that it may be displayed because of the truth. Selah-</h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>"The truth" is a reference to the covenant; see on :1. The poles or banners of the Israelite army were in the name of that covenant. But there is a deeper, Messianic connection between "the truth" and the banner or pole. This is another link between the concept of ‘truth’ and the cross. In <a href='B:230 60:4'>Psa 60:4</a> God’s Truth is displayed on the banner (s:w. “pole”, on which the snake was lifted up). John struggled with words, even under inspiration, to get over to us the tremendous truth and reality of what he witnessed at the cross (<a href='B:500 19:35'>Joh 19:35</a>). God is the ultimate Truth, and the cross was the ultimate declaration of His Truth.</p>


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<h2>So that Your beloved may be delivered, save with Your right hand, and answer us-</h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>"The beloved of Yahweh" was Israel nationally (s:w. <a href='B:50 33:12'>Deu 33:12</a>; <a href='B:300 11:15'>Jer 11:15</a>; <a href='B:300 12:7'>Jer 12:7</a>). But it was also David personally; <a href='B:230 108:6'>Psa 108:6</a> has the same words, but concludes "and answer me". A Psalm about David's personal deliverance is extended to all Israel. David saw himself as representative of God's people. It could be that Solomon is in view also; for his original name was Jedidiah (<a href='B:100 12:25'>2Sa 12:25</a>), 'the beloved of Yahweh', referred to in that way by David in <a href='B:230 45:1'>Psa 45:1</a>. Perhaps Solomon was involved in the battle against the Edomites and David is asking for his son to be preserved.</p>


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<h2>God has spoken from His sanctuary: I will triumph. I will divide Shechem, and measure out the valley of Succoth-</h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Presumably there was a direct Divine communication from the sanctuary, perhaps through the mouth of Nathan, encouraging Israel to continue in the Edom campaign despite the reverses experienced (see on Psalms 44). The idea of 'division' and 'measuring' is 'possession' and inheritance (as <a href='B:60 18:10'>Jos 18:10</a>). The idea therefore is that Israel is God's, and He had given it to Israel for inheritance; therefore those seeking to take it from them would be defeated. Perhaps Succoth and Shechem are mentioned because of their connections with Jacob, mentioned together in <a href='B:10 33:17-18'>Gen 33:17-18</a>. As He had been with Jacob, despite allowing him to experience many setbacks and near defeats, so He would be with the later seed of Israel.</p>


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<h2>Gilead is Mine and Manasseh is Mine. Ephraim also is the helmet of My head. Judah is My sceptre-</h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The emphasis is that the land belongs to God, it "is Mine"; therefore those seeking to take it from God's people. would be defeated. Gilead and Manasseh represent the territory east of the Jordan; and Ephraim and Judah refer to the tribes west of the Jordan. The territories east of the Jordan just as much were God's as those to the west of it; for the Edomites were seeking to take firstly the Israelite territory east of the Jordan.</p>


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<h2>Moab is My wash basin. I will throw My shoe on Edom, I shout in triumph over Philistia-</h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>They were to become subservient to Yahweh. And that could imply that the hope was that they would accept Him as their God. For that was what conquered peoples usually did. David had earlier shouted in triumph over the Philistines when he slew Goliath; and that was to prepare him for this later victory. Circumstances repeat in our lives because they are under God's control.</p>


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<h2>Who will bring me into the strong city? Who has led me to Edom?- </h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>"Strong city" can mean the fortified, strengthened city under siege (<a href='B:120 25:2'>2Ki 25:2</a> s:w:). The reference may be to Sela or Petra, Edom's capital, which claimed to be fortified against any invader (<a href='B:380 1:3'>Oba 1:3</a>).</p>


text:
<h2>Haven’t You, God, rejected us? You don’t go out with our armies, God-</h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The Psalm is clearly related to Psalms 44, which appears to be a comment upon a temporary set back and defeat during this campaign against Edom. But despite this, the Psalm glorifies how God had come through for His people, despite the temporary reverses. So this comment that God has rejected them would be looking back to how they once felt; for this Psalm is a victory song over Edom after defeating them (:1).</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>God not going out with Israel's armies, and their turning back from their enemies at this time (<a href='B:230 44:10'>Psa 44:10</a>), is all the language of the punishments for Israel breaking the covenant. But this Psalms 60 is a celebration of victory; a victory given because they had kept the covenant (:1). So the idea may be that David saw in the victory that now Israel were back in covenant relationship with Yahweh.</p>


text:
<h2>Give us help against the adversary, for the help of man is vain-</h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Perhas a reference to some attempt to hire mercenaries to help them in the campaign against Edom.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>From the end of the land I will call to You when my heart is overwhelmed. Lead me to the rock that is higher than I-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Although this is a Psalm of David (:1) it clearly has reference to the captives who were located at "the end of the land" / eretz promised to Abraham. He feels his own mental ("heart") and physical ("rock") strength has been overwhelmed and so he throws himself upon God. We too are brought to realize our own lack of human strength so that we might more powerfully turn to God. The rock higher than David was ultimately God, but he may also have in view the rock of mount Zion. In Absalom's time, this would have been where the sanctuary was, which he so hankered to return to.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>For You have been a refuge for me, a strong tower from the enemy-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>David often takes strength from God's previous deliverances to cope with whatever he was now facing (<a href='B:230 61:3'>Psa 61:3</a>). This may sound natural, but in fact it isn't; because we are inclined to forget the great things He has done for us, as Israel did in the desert.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>I will dwell in Your tent forever, I will take refuge in the shelter of Your wings. Selah-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Clearly David longed to be back in the sanctuary. But he feels that he is in fact underneath the cherubim wings over the ark, with the glory of God above him and the blood of atonement beneath him. And he realized that whether or not in this life he ever got back to the sanctuary, he would eternally dwell in God's tabernacle.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>For You, God, have heard my vows-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Vows were made as promises to do things for God if He came through for you. So this still suggests that David was too works based in his attitude.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>You have given me the heritage of those who fear Your name-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'> This seems another appeal to the promises to Abraham. The inheritance promised to Abraham's seed was to be experienced by David.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>You will prolong the king’s life; his years shall be for generations-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>If this Psalm originally came from the wilderness years when David was not yet king, then this reflects his deep faith in Samuel's words that he should be king. Or if the Psalm has application to Absalom's rebellion and David's exile then, we could then detect an allusion to the promises to David in 2 Samuel 7. He saw that they implied his own eternity. Perhaps by "the king" he therefore has in view the Messianic king from his seed, rather than himself. The prospect of eternity, of the Kingdom established on earth, is for all believers the perspective on current exiles and rejections.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>He shall be enthroned in God’s presence forever-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This surely alludes to the word in the promises to David that his throne would be established "in the presence" (<a href='B:100 7:16'>2Sa 7:16</a>). The translations tend to add "in your presence", but the grammar is indeterminate. It could as well mean in God's presence, and this is how David interprets it here in <a href='B:230 61:7'>Psa 61:7</a>.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Appoint Your grace and truth that they may preserve him-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This prayer for the "king" in the third person may read strangely. Perhaps David speaks of himself as king in the third person because at the time he wrote the Psalm he was not actually king. Or if he has his future eternity in view, or that of his Messianic seed, that had also not yet begun. But he believed that "grace and truth", a term often used about God's promises, would bring about the fulfilment of those promises.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>For the Chief Musician. To Jeduthun. A Psalm of David.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>My soul rests in God alone. My salvation is from Him-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>As noted on :4 and elsewhere, the Psalm seems relevant to David's betrayal by Ahithophel and Absalom. He emphasizes that God alone can save; seeing he has been stabbed in the back by those he considered his own family and friends.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>"Alone" is related to the word for "one". Because God is one, the only source of power, we are to trust in Him alone. Here we see the meaning of the unity of God in practice. David sees that Yahweh will be a "high tower" or place of refuge at the day of future judgment (<a href='B:230 9:8-9'>Psa 9:8-9</a>, quoted about this in <a href='B:510 17:31'>Act 17:31</a>). But David feels God has been like this to him in this life (<a href='B:100 22:3'>2Sa 22:3</a>; <a href='B:230 18:2'>Psa 18:2</a>; <a href='B:230 46:7'>Psa 46:7</a>; <a href='B:230 48:3'>Psa 48:3</a>; <a href='B:230 59:9'>Psa 59:9</a>; <a href='B:230 59:16-17'>Psa 59:16-17</a>; <a href='B:230 62:2'>Psa 62:2</a>; <a href='B:230 94:22'>Psa 94:22</a>; <a href='B:230 144:2'>Psa 144:2</a>). He therefore sees a seamless experience in his relationship with God in this life, and at the future day of judgment. God saves us right now and is a refuge for us in countless life situations; and this is the guarantee that He will be likewise at the last day.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>I will never be greatly shaken-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>David's faith grows as his prayer goes on, for by :6 he is saying that he will not be shaken at all. And so we find in our prayer experience too; the process of prayer is such that we rise from our knees far stronger in faith and clarity of spiritual understanding than when we knelt down.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>How long will you assault a man, would all of you throw him down, like a leaning wall, like a tottering fence?<strong>- </strong></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The "assault" would refer to their intentions (:4) and words. David sees their attitudes and words for what they really were. David feels his power is tottering, but is angry they seek to push him over.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>They fully intend to throw him down from his high place-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>"Fully intend" is s:w. "counsel", the word used of Ahithophel, David's counsellor who was Bathsheba's grandfather, who later betrayed him and turned against him (<a href='B:100 15:12'>2Sa 15:12</a>; <a href='B:100 16:23'>2Sa 16:23</a>). Perhaps David is commenting upon Ahithophel's counsel to Absalom which was designed to destroy him. See on <a href='B:230 32:8'>Psa 32:8</a>.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>They delight in lies; they bless with their mouth, but they curse inwardly. Selah-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>We may well enquire how David thought he knew the state of heart [AV "inward part"] of his enemies (<a href='B:230 5:9'>Psa 5:9</a>; <a href='B:230 36:1'>Psa 36:1</a>; <a href='B:230 49:11'>Psa 49:11</a>; <a href='B:230 62:4'>Psa 62:4</a>; <a href='B:230 64:6'>Psa 64:6</a>). Perhaps it was a result of his reflection upon how he had only had a right spirit or heart given by God "within" him as a result of his repentance (<a href='B:230 51:10'>Psa 51:10</a> s:w:). His enemies were impenitent, and so perhaps on that basis he knew what was in their hearts.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>My soul, wait in silence for God alone, for my expectation is from Him-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Again we note that "alone" is related to the word for "one". The unity of God implies our total trust in Him alone. And we have another example of how within prayer (for this Psalm is a prayer) we can deviate from talking to God, to addressing ourselves within our own self talk. This is the stuff of real spiritual mindedness. David's "expectation" in the context of <a href='B:230 62:5'>Psa 62:5</a> was the continuation of his own kingdom, despite all the threats against it from the likes of Saul, Absalom and others who would usurp his Davidic kingship and kingdom. Solomon likely uses the word for "expectation" with the same subtext; that all opposition to him was based upon a false expectation which would be dashed by God (s:w. <a href='B:240 10:28'>Pro 10:28</a>; <a href='B:240 11:7'>Pro 11:7</a>; <a href='B:240 11:23'>Pro 11:23</a>; <a href='B:240 23:18'>Pro 23:18</a>; <a href='B:240 24:14'>Pro 24:14</a>). The hope or expectation of David was that of all exiled Judah (s:w. <a href='B:300 31:17'>Jer 31:17</a>; <a href='B:310 3:29'>Lam 3:29</a>):&nbsp;</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress. I will not be shaken-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>David in his earlier Psalms exalts and boasts to God that his feet have not slipped / been shaken, indeed he was overly confident that his feet would never slip / "be shaken" (<a href='B:230 17:5'>Psa 17:5</a>; <a href='B:230 21:7'>Psa 21:7</a>; <a href='B:230 55:22'>Psa 55:22</a>; <a href='B:230 62:2'>Psa 62:2</a>; <a href='B:230 62:6'>Psa 62:6</a>; <a href='B:230 125:1'>Psa 125:1</a>). His more mature reflection is that he had wrongly said "I shall never slip [AV "be moved"]" (<a href='B:230 30:6'>Psa 30:6</a>), and his feet had indeed slipped, not least over the Bathsheba incident (<a href='B:230 38:16'>Psa 38:16</a>; <a href='B:230 94:18'>Psa 94:18</a>). Solomon didn't learn this lesson, for he likewise assumed that the righteous would never be moved / slip (<a href='B:240 10:30'>Pro 10:30</a>), although he appears to accept that even a righteous man like his father had indeed slipped (<a href='B:240 25:26'>Pro 25:26</a>). And Solomon himself did so, not learning the lesson from his father's mistaken assumption that the righteous can never slip.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>With God is my salvation and my honour. The rock of my strength, and my refuge, is in God-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The continued language of rocks and caves is appropriate to David in the wilderness, running either from Saul or Absalom.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Trust in Him at all times, you people-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This is quite a challenge- to consistently trust God "at all times", in all situations, and not just those desperate ones or ones which nudge us specifically towards faith in God.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Pour out your heart before Him. God is a refuge for us. Selah-</p><h2>David knew his sinfulness, he knew his reliance upon the grace of God, more and more as he got older. For this Psalm clearly has some relevance to his situation whilst fleeing from Absalom. One would have thought that after the Bathsheba incident, David would have kept his mouth shut so far as telling other people how to live was concerned. But instead, we find an increasing emphasis in the Psalms (chronologically) upon David's desire to teach others of God's ways- particularly the surrounding Gentile peoples, before whom David had been disgraced over Bathsheba, not to mention from his two faced allegiance to Achish (<a href='B:90 27:8-12'>1Sa 27:8-12</a>). There is real stress upon this evangelistic fervour of David (<a href='B:230 4:3'>Psa 4:3</a>; <a href='B:230 18:49'>Psa 18:49</a>; <a href='B:230 22:25'>Psa 22:25</a>; <a href='B:230 22:31'>Psa 22:31</a>; <a href='B:230 35:18'>Psa 35:18</a>; <a href='B:230 40:9-10'>Psa 40:9-10</a>; <a href='B:230 57:9'>Psa 57:9</a>; <a href='B:230 62:8'>Psa 62:8</a>; <a href='B:230 66:5'>Psa 66:5</a>; <a href='B:230 66:16'>Psa 66:16</a>; <a href='B:230 95:1'>Psa 95:1</a>; <a href='B:230 95:8'>Psa 95:8</a>; <a href='B:230 96:5-8'>Psa 96:5-8</a>; <a href='B:230 96:10'>Psa 96:10</a>; <a href='B:230 100:1-4'>Psa 100:1-4</a>; <a href='B:230 105:1-2'>Psa 105:1-2</a>; <a href='B:230 119:27'>Psa 119:27</a>; <a href='B:230 145:5-6'>Psa 145:5-6</a>; <a href='B:230 145:12'>Psa 145:12</a>). He wants others to find God a "refuge for us" as He had been for David. Indeed, <a href='B:230 71:18'>Psa 71:18</a> records the "old and greyheaded" David pleading with God not to die until he had taught "thy strength unto this generation". As with Paul years later, the only reason he wanted to stay alive was in order to witness the Gospel of grace to others. David&nbsp;therefore coped with his deep inner traumas by looking out of himself to those around him, eagerly desiring to share with them the pureness of God's grace. He didn't do this as some kind of self-help psychiatry; it came naturally from a realization of his own sinfulness and God's mercy, and the wonderful willingness&nbsp;of God to extend this to men.</h2>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Surely men of low degree are just a breath, and men of high degree are a lie. In the balances they will go up; they are together lighter than a breath-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>David eagerly looks forward to the judgment seat (<a href='B:230 62:9'>Psa 62:9</a> Revelation , 12) as a source of comfort in his present distress. Those whom he had trusted in had betrayed him, whatever their social status. But David reasons further to perceive that in fact this is how all men are. These ideas are repeated in the context of the exiles, encouraging them that literally all men, even the great and might of the Babylonian-Persian empire, are too light to influence the balances of Divine judgment (<a href='B:290 40:15'>Isa 40:15</a>).</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Don’t trust in oppression, don’t become vain in robbery-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This seems to have been a characteristic of the reigns of Saul and Absalom. But the language of oppression and robbery is often used in the prophets concerning the leadership of God's people at later points (<a href='B:290 30:12'>Isa 30:12</a>; <a href='B:290 59:13'>Isa 59:13</a>). This was the equivalent of how Saul oppressed David (<a href='B:230 119:121-122'>Psa 119:121-122</a>; <a href='B:230 119:134'>Psa 119:134</a>). Samuel's insistence that he has not oppressed the people is in the context of his warning that Saul would do this (<a href='B:90 12:3-4'>1Sa 12:3-4</a>). When Solomon later condemns the 'oppressors' (s:w. <a href='B:240 14:31'>Pro 14:31</a>; <a href='B:240 22:16'>Pro 22:16</a>; <a href='B:240 28:3'>Pro 28:3</a>; <a href='B:240 28:24'>Pro 28:24</a>), he has in view a wishing of judgment upon the house of Saul. "The poor" whom they had oppressed would easily refer to David (<a href='B:90 18:23'>1Sa 18:23</a>; <a href='B:230 34:6'>Psa 34:6</a>).</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>If riches increase, don’t set your heart on them-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The next verses explain why. Our hearts are to be set exclusively upon God and the saving power of His grace (:11,12). Increased wealth tempts people to trust in that wealth for power; but the only power is in God's free gift of grace.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>God has spoken once; twice I have heard this, that power belongs to God-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>"Once::. twice" appears to be a Hebraism meaning 'certainly'. "Power" is here placed in opposition to human riches and oppression (:10). The attraction of wealth is here defined as "power". And yet it is mythical that wealth can buy power, ultimately. All power is with God, and the battle is not to the strong nor the race won by the swift. The power of God is revealed above all in His grace (:12); this is His ultimate power, of an order far above human wealth.</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>A Psalm of David, when he was in the desert of Judah-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This surely refers to David's experience at the hands of Saul, and yet it was appropriated by him to the situation he endured in exile from Absalom.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>God, You are my God; I will earnestly seek You-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>David was fleeing from Saul, but he perceives this as a fleeing towards God, a seeking for Him. We too mush see the push factors of life as in fact pull factors towards God.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>My soul thirsts for You, my flesh longs for You, in a dry and weary land, where there is no water-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This longing for God was in terms of longing to be able to worship Him again in the sanctuary, from which he was exiled during the persecution from Saul (:2). And yet he was to come to realize that there in the desert he was as much in God's presence, even beneath the cherubim wings of the ark, as he was in the sanctuary.</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>So I have seen You in the sanctuary, watching Your power and Your glory-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>As David had watched the glory of God and sensed His power over the ark in the sanctuary, "so" He sees God's presence in the desert.</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Because Your grace is better than life, my lips shall praise You-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The idea is that ‘more than my own life do I value God’s love / grace, His hesed , covenant love, for me’. Even if he were to die, having known God's grace was enough, and David would ever praise God for that.</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>So I will bless You while I live, I will lift up my hands in Your name-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>As explained on :3, David feels that the wonder of praising God at this moment was enough for him, whether or not he was to die at the time.</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>My soul shall be satisfied as with the richest food-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The same word used of how Israel in the desert were "satisfied" with the food of God's provision (<a href='B:20 16:8'>Exo 16:8</a>; <a href='B:20 16:12'>Exo 16:12</a>). David clearly saw them at that time as a precedent for himself whilst in the desert (:1). Being "satisfied" with food was the continual promise for obedience to the covenant (<a href='B:50 8:10'>Deu 8:10</a>; <a href='B:50 8:12'>Deu 8:12</a>; <a href='B:50 11:15'>Deu 11:15</a>; <a href='B:50 31:20'>Deu 31:20</a>). But he speaks in the future, "shall be satisfied", perhaps ultimately with his eye upon the Kingdom of God coming upon earth; although clearly he expected some form of this in his own immediate experience in this life.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>My mouth shall praise You with joyful lips-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>David's joy was not in the experience of deliverance, but in his perception of God's grace (:3).</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>when I remember You on my bed, and think about You in the night watches-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This "bed" would have been somewhere in the desert whilst on the run from Saul (:1). David speaks of how he "meditates day and night" on God's law (<a href='B:230 1:2'>Psa 1:2</a>), and also of how he meditates upon "God" at night (<a href='B:230 63:6'>Psa 63:6</a>) and in the day (<a href='B:230 71:24'>Psa 71:24</a>). "The word was God", and still is, in the sense that our devotions to God are to be according to His word; for in practice, what we see of God is largely through His hand and statements in history which we find in His word.</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>For You have been my help-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>In the Hezekiah context, this would have applied to how Ahaz had given money to the king of Assyria, but "he helped him not" (<a href='B:140 28:21'>2Ch 28:21</a> s:w:). God was thereby revealed as the sole "hope of Israel".</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>I will rejoice in the shadow of Your wings-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This could mean that David was full of faith that he would return to the sanctuary; or that he felt that even in exile from the sanctuary, he was as it were right there beneath the cherubic wings over the ark, with God's glory above him and the blood of atonement beneath him. This was an encouragement to the exiles.</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>My soul stays close to You, Your right hand upholds me-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>David responded to their seeking of him by seeking God more. He uses the language of the hunt and chase to describe how he was drawing closer to God: "My soul followeth hard after thee" (<a href='B:230 63:8'>Psa 63:8</a>; Psalms 63 is a wilderness psalm, see title). "Let them be ashamed and confounded that seek after my soul::. let all those that seek thee rejoice" (<a href='B:230 40:14'>Psa 40:14</a>; <a href='B:230 40:16'>Psa 40:16</a>). In this sense, David felt he wasn't fleeing from&nbsp; his enemies as much as fleeing to&nbsp; God : "Deliver me, O Lord, from mine enemies (from whom he was running): I flee unto thee to hide me" (<a href='B:230 143:9'>Psa 143:9</a>). This fleeing to&nbsp; God didn't mean that David and Jesus didn't respond or retaliate verbally; both of them, especially the Lord Jesus, did. They both pleaded their innocence, and accused their enemies of being unfair and hypocritical. Yet this must have been done from a genuine motive of love; as David loved Saul, as the thought of Saul's death must have torn at his heart, so the Lord Jesus loved Israel, weeping over Jerusalem, wishing to himself like a child for the impossible: that they would know him as their Saviour. Both David and Jesus had a real sense of direction, they could see that their mental, emotional and physical sufferings were leading them towards an altogether higher relationship with the Father. They took those sufferings as an almost welcome push towards the Father. They had a sure sense of spiritual direction in all their afflictions; this accounts for the human loneliness which they both felt. David felt that no one else understood (<a href='B:230 14:2'>Psa 14:2</a>, a wilderness psalm) or was really seeking towards God as he was doing (<a href='B:230 27:4'>Psa 27:4</a>; <a href='B:230 27:8'>Psa 27:8</a>). The Hebrew for "understand" here is that translated "wise" concerning David in 1 Samuel 18. &nbsp;</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>But those who seek my soul to destroy it shall go into the lower parts of the earth-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Saul sought&nbsp; to take David's life. So many of the Psalms contain imprecations against those who were seeking David's soul- not just his physical life, but seeking to destroy his very being (e:g. <a href='B:230 35:4'>Psa 35:4</a>; <a href='B:230 40:14'>Psa 40:14</a>; <a href='B:230 54:1'>Psa 54:1</a>; <a href='B:230 63:9'>Psa 63:9</a>; <a href='B:230 70:2'>Psa 70:2</a>; <a href='B:230 71:13'>Psa 71:13</a>). These imprecations expose the evil of Saul, and asks God to condemn him. Some of those Psalms appear to have been written by David in the Saul days, and then rewritten at the time of Absalom's rebellion- another man who sought David's soul, and yet whom David loved:&nbsp;</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>David's characteristic of self-examination cannot be unrelated to the fact that while on the run from Saul, he keenly meditated on the word of God (largely in the Law); Psalms 119 has many connections between his love of the word and the outlaw experiences. Perhaps David thought so much of the Law that he came close to the spirit of Moses in the desert; for "those that seek after my soul::. shall go into the lower parts of the earth" is clearly alluding to the fate of Moses' enemies, Korah et al&nbsp;.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>"The lower parts of the earth" may well be a reference to some supposed place of punishment after death. But we know from Psalms 49 and so often in the Psalms, that David believed death was unconsciousness. He may therefore have been alluding to a common curse formula, probably used by Saul against David, and wishing it to come back upon Saul.</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>They shall be given over to the power of the sword. They shall be jackal food-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>When this happened to Saul and he was slain by his own sword, David wept deeply and genuinely. But what had happened was the fulfilment of his own prayer. Perhaps the desperate attempt to rescue Saul's body from the walls of Bethshan was an attempt to stop the latter part of the verse coming true. David surely learned the lesson we all have to- that we must be careful what we ask for in prayer lest we receive it.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>For the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>As noted on :2, this Psalm appears to be based during the insurrection of Absalom.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Hear my voice, God, in my complaint. Preserve my life from fear of the enemy-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Prayer is perhaps the area where it is easiest to have only a surface level of spirituality, without getting down to real faith, real perseverance in prayer, real wrestling with God. Elijah " prayed in his prayer" (<a href='B:660 5:17'>Jas 5:17</a> AVmg:) reflects the Spirit's recognition that there is prayer, and real prayer. “Hear my voice, O God, in my prayer” (<a href='B:230 64:1'>Psa 64:1</a> AV) seems to say the same: there is our true, pleading voice: and the outward form of prayer. The form of words we use, the outward form, conceals the real thing; the real groaning of spirit which is counted by God as the real prayer. The tendency to multiply words in prayer without intensely meaning them is probably behind the Lord's teaching about faith as a grain of mustard seed, which could move a mountain (<a href='B:490 17:20'>Luk 17:20</a>). He's surely saying that a little bit of the real thing can do such wonders.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Who we are as persons is effectively our prayer and plea to God. This conception of prayer explains why often weeping, crying, waiting, meditating etc. are spoken of as "prayer", although there was no specific verbalizing of requests (<a href='B:230 5:1-2'>Psa 5:1-2</a>; <a href='B:230 6:8'>Psa 6:8</a>; <a href='B:230 18:1-3'>Psa 18:1-3</a>; <a href='B:230 18:6'>Psa 18:6</a>; <a href='B:230 40:1'>Psa 40:1</a>; <a href='B:230 42:8'>Psa 42:8</a>; <a href='B:230 64:1'>Psa 64:1</a> Heb:; 65:1,2; 66:17-20; <a href='B:450 8:22'>Zec 8:22</a>). The association between prayer and weeping is especially common: <a href='B:90 1:10'>1Sa 1:10</a>; <a href='B:230 39:12'>Psa 39:12</a>; <a href='B:230 55:1-2'>Psa 55:1-2</a>; <a href='B:500 11:41-42'>Joh 11:41-42</a>; <a href='B:650 5:7'>Heb 5:7</a>, especially in the Lord's life and the Messianic Psalms. "The Lord hath heard the voice of my weeping. The Lord hath heard my supplication; the Lord will receive my prayer" (<a href='B:230 6:8-9'>Psa 6:8-9</a>) crystallizes the point.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Hide me from the conspiracy of the wicked, from the noisy crowd of the ones doing evil-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>"Conspiracy" sounds like the time of Absalom's putsch. "Noisy crowd" is AV "insurrection". But that is the same word used of Ahithophel in <a href='B:230 55:14'>Psa 55:14</a>: "We walked to God’s house in company". "In company" is a word only used elsewhere in <a href='B:230 64:2'>Psa 64:2</a>, where it is translated "insurrection" (AV), again in the context of Absalom. The double meaning of the word chosen reflects the duplicity of Ahithophel.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>who sharpen their tongue like a sword, and aim their arrows, deadly words-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>When men speak hard words against us, the situation on earth is somehow mirrored in the court of Heaven- <a href='B:230 64:3'>Psa 64:3</a>; <a href='B:230 64:7'>Psa 64:7</a> speak of how men "aim their arrows, even bitter words"; and God responds by shooting arrows from His Heavenly control room. The language of sharpening could suggest that David wrote this as he sensed the oncoming insurrection of Absalom (:1,2).</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>to shoot innocent men from ambushes. They shoot at him suddenly and fearlessly-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Nathan had told David that he was to suffer the consequences of his sin with Bathsheba for the rest of his life. But in the Psalms associated with Absalom's rebellion, which was a consequence of his sin (Ahithophel was Bathsheba's grandfather), David often laments that he is suffering as an innocent man. This is another reason for querying whether he maintained the intensity of repentance for the sin which he had at the time. And we can likely identify with that weakness; the intensity of repentance is hard to maintain, and we often rework the narrative of what happened in our own minds- biased of course towards our own justification. See on :6.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>They encourage themselves in evil plans. They talk about laying snares secretly-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>David appears to have inside knowledge of how they were congratulating themselves on their plans. Absalom's plans for rebellion were therefore more or less known to David ahead of time. And yet in love he tolerated him and Ahithophel, perhaps in desperate hope of their repentance. This typifies how the Lord Jesus knew ahead of time that Judas would betray Him and yet still lovingly tolerated him, and did not at all take precipitate, defensive action.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>They say, Who will see them?<strong>- </strong></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Again we doubt whether these men really thought their plans were invisible to God. But this was the subconscious state of their minds. This was how God read their attitude and perhaps revealed it to David.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>They plot injustice, saying, We have made a perfect plan! Surely man’s mind and heart are cunning-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>We may well enquire how David thought he knew the state of heart [AV "inward part"] of his enemies (<a href='B:230 5:9'>Psa 5:9</a>; <a href='B:230 36:1'>Psa 36:1</a>; <a href='B:230 49:11'>Psa 49:11</a>; <a href='B:230 62:4'>Psa 62:4</a>; <a href='B:230 64:6'>Psa 64:6</a>). Perhaps it was a result of his reflection upon how he had only had a right spirit or heart given by God "within" him as a result of his repentance (<a href='B:230 51:10'>Psa 51:10</a> s:w:). His enemies were impenitent, and so perhaps on that basis he knew what was in their hearts.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>AV has "They search out iniquities; they accomplish a diligent search". Nathan had told David that he was to suffer the consequences of his sin with Bathsheba for the rest of his life. But in the Psalms associated with Absalom's rebellion, which was a consequence of his sin (Ahithophel was Bathsheba's grandfather), David often laments that he is suffering as an innocent man. This is another reason for querying whether he maintained the intensity of repentance for the sin which he had at the time. And we can likely identify with that weakness; the intensity of repentance is hard to maintain, and we often rework the narrative of what happened in our own minds- biased of course towards our own justification. See on :4.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>But God will shoot at them, they will be suddenly struck down with an arrow-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>David rejoices that Divine "arrows" were sent to destroy his enemies (<a href='B:230 7:13'>Psa 7:13</a>; <a href='B:230 18:14'>Psa 18:14</a>; <a href='B:230 45:5'>Psa 45:5</a>; <a href='B:230 64:7'>Psa 64:7</a>; <a href='B:230 144:6'>Psa 144:6</a>), in fulfilment of God's promise to do so to the sinful within Israel (<a href='B:50 32:23'>Deu 32:23</a>; <a href='B:50 32:42'>Deu 32:42</a>). But David was failing to realize that those same arrows had been fired by God into him in judgment for his sin (<a href='B:230 38:2'>Psa 38:2</a>). This realization was perhaps to help David understand that his rejoicing in Divine arrows of judgment being fired at his enemies had not been mature; for he himself had to realize that he was worthy of the same. But as noted on :4,6, it appears David didn't perceive this as he might have done.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Their own tongues shall ruin them; all who see them will shake their heads-</p><h2>Speaking of the sudden destruction of the wicked at the future judgment, David reflected: “So they shall make their own tongues to fall upon themselves” (<a href='B:230 64:8'>Psa 64:8</a>). Unsound speech will be condemned, or [will lead to our] condemnation (<a href='B:630 2:8'>Tit 2:8</a>). The implication seems to be that our words will be quoted back to us during the judgment process. Brother, sister, think about thIsa. Ancient Hebrew had no expletives. Curses were uttered in terms of&nbsp; imprecations wishing Divine judgment against a person at the last day. And so David asks that these curses uttered upon him come literally true for those who spoke them.</h2>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>All mankind shall be in awe. They shall declare the work of God, and shall wisely ponder what He has done-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The judgment of his opponents which David had in view was therefore that at the last day. For it is a theme in Bible teaching about judgment that the judgment of the wicked will in some sense be public, before others, and the observers are brought to God by what they see (<a href='B:290 26:9'>Isa 26:9</a>; <a href='B:730 16:15'>Rev 16:15</a>):&nbsp;</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>For the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David. A song-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The context appears to be David at the time of Absalom's rebellion, thanking God for restoring him, and looking ahead to God's Kingdom coming upon earth.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Praise waits for You, God, in Zion. To You shall vows be performed-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>David had made various vows as to what he would do if he returned to Zion. And now he was to fulfil them, and this song is one of them. The Hebrew implies "silent praise", a way of expressing the inadequacy of the audible song which David has composed. There may be an allusion to the silence in the sanctuary (later the temple courts) as the people awaited the reappearance of the High Priest on the day of atonement to declare their forgiveness. And there was to be silent praise this had been granted. As noted on :3,4, David seems aware that his suffering at the hands of Absalom was a consequence for his sin with Bathsheba, and he thanks God for his forgiveness. I have noted elsewhere however that he seemed to struggle with it all, with some of the Absalom period Psalms reflecting his feeling that he was suffering as an innocent man.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Who we are as persons is effectively our prayer and plea to God. This conception of prayer explains why often weeping, crying, waiting, meditating etc. are spoken of as "prayer" , although there was no specific verbalizing of requests (<a href='B:230 5:1-2'>Psa 5:1-2</a>; <a href='B:230 6:8'>Psa 6:8</a>; <a href='B:230 18:1-3'>Psa 18:1-3</a>; <a href='B:230 18:6'>Psa 18:6</a>; <a href='B:230 40:1'>Psa 40:1</a>; <a href='B:230 42:8'>Psa 42:8</a>; <a href='B:230 64:1'>Psa 64:1</a> Heb:; 65:1,2; 66:17-20; <a href='B:450 8:22'>Zec 8:22</a>). The association between prayer and weeping is especially common: <a href='B:90 1:10'>1Sa 1:10</a>; <a href='B:230 39:12'>Psa 39:12</a>; <a href='B:230 55:1-2'>Psa 55:1-2</a>; <a href='B:500 11:41-42'>Joh 11:41-42</a>; <a href='B:650 5:7'>Heb 5:7</a>, especially in the Lord's life and the Messianic Psalms. "The Lord hath heard the voice of my weeping. The Lord hath heard my supplication; the Lord will receive my prayer" (<a href='B:230 6:8-9'>Psa 6:8-9</a>) crystallizes the point.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>You who hear prayer, to You all men will come-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This refers to the coming near in sacrifice which is alluded to in :4. David saw his experience of forgiveness and grace concerning his sin with Bathsheba as programmatic for "all men", and he wanted to teach and preach it.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>It should be noted that David/Bathsheba language is used to describe Israel's spiritually fallen state (e:g. <a href='B:230 38:7'>Psa 38:7</a> = <a href='B:290 1:6'>Isa 1:6</a>; <a href='B:230 51:7'>Psa 51:7</a> = <a href='B:290 1:18'>Isa 1:18</a>; <a href='B:230 65:2'>Psa 65:2</a> = <a href='B:290 40:15'>Isa 40:15</a>). David recognized this in <a href='B:230 51:17'>Psa 51:17</a>, where he likens his own state to that of Zion, which also needed to be revived by God's mercy. As David's sin is likened to the killing of a lamb (<a href='B:100 12:4'>2Sa 12:4</a>), so the Jews killed Jesus. The troubles which therefore came upon his kingdom have certain similarities with the events of AD67-70:&nbsp; They were also repeated in the Nazi Holocaust, and will yet be. Israel are yet to fully repent after the pattern of David.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Sins overwhelmed me-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The allusion to David's sin with Bathsheba which began in :1 is continued in :4. David perceives that his personal sin ("me") is representative of "our [plural] transgressions". He saw in his salvation by grace a pattern for all who would afterward sin, as he makes clear in Psalms 32. The same word used for how David's sins "overwhelmed me" (<a href='B:230 65:3'>Psa 65:3</a>) is used of how overwhelming or "great" is God's grace (<a href='B:230 103:11'>Psa 103:11</a>; <a href='B:230 117:2'>Psa 117:2</a>). David felt overwhelmed firstly by his sin and then by God's grace. This explains his fragile emotional and nervous state, as often reflected in the Psalms. But his path is to be that of all God's true Israel.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>But You atoned for our transgressions-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The words used for the atoning of Israel's sins, if they were to follow the pattern of David in repentance (<a href='B:230 79:9'>Psa 79:9</a>; <a href='B:290 27:9'>Isa 27:9</a>; <a href='B:340 9:24'>Dan 9:24</a>):&nbsp;</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Blessed is the person whom You choose and cause to come near, that he may live in Your courts. We will be filled with the goodness of Your house, Your holy temple-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>"Come near" is a common idiom for offering sacrifice and worshipping God. The idea is used in <a href='B:230 32:9'>Psa 32:9</a> of how men ought to learn from David’s example, and not be as horses who must have their mouths kept in with a bridle. God doesn't want to force men to come near to Him through using the force of bit and bridle; rather does He want genuinely repentant sinners like David, in awe of His grace, to come to Him of themselves with the "understanding" of Him as the God of all grace. But God all the same causes men to "come near" to Him (<a href='B:230 65:4'>Psa 65:4</a> s:w:); but not be coercion, by bit and bridle, rather by the experience of His grace, through the operation of the Holy Spirit.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The reference to the "courts" of the "temple" indicates that the Psalm was rewritten and reapplied to the exiles, in their hope for restoration if they followed the pattern of David's repentance and restoration.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>By awesome deeds of righteousness You answer us, God of our salvation-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The Psalm now moves towards a greater relevance to the exiles (see on :4) and the hope of God's restored Kingdom coming on the earth. Such restoration was to be by grace alone, but was brought about in "righteousness", in justice. Paul in Romans 1-8 develops this theme; that condemned sinners are justified by grace in a way that is all the same "just". This is the wonder of God's grace and His saving work through His Son. For it was in Jesus, Yehoshuah, the salvation of God / Yah, that He saves rejected sinners in total justice.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>You who are the hope of all the ends of the earth, of those who are far away on the sea-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This had particular reference to the exiles dwelling in Babylon and Assyria, at the ends of the eretz promised to Abraham. Those "on the sea" likewise refer to God's people scattered even beyond that territory, in what is symbolically called "the sea" of even more distant Gentile areas. The term is used in that sense in :7.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>who by His power forms the mountains, having armed Yourself with strength-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The implication could be that God would form new "mountains", perhaps an intensive plural referring to the one great mountain, of Zion. He would take His strength to Himself in restoring and reforming Zion.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>who stills the roaring of the seas, the crashing of their waves, and the turmoil of the nations-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>As noted on :5, the seas refer to the Gentile nations beyond the eretz or territory promised to Abraham. Those nations worldwide would be stilled, when God forms or reforms the great mountain of Zion (:6). The Lord Jesus spoke of the situation just prior to His return as the sea and waves roaring, apparently alluding here (<a href='B:490 21:25'>Luk 21:25</a>). "Stills" is literally 'to speak loudly to', and is usually translated "praise". The Lord Jesus fulfilled this, on God's behalf, by addressing the roaring of the storm on Galilee. This was a microcosm of the coming of His Kingdom. The language used here (and in <a href='B:230 74:23'>Psa 74:23</a>) is that used of the gathering of the Assyrian and Babylonian armies against Zion (<a href='B:290 13:4'>Isa 13:4</a>; <a href='B:290 17:12-13'>Isa 17:12-13</a>; <a href='B:290 25:5'>Isa 25:5</a>; <a href='B:300 25:31'>Jer 25:31</a>). But God's word was to calm that, in order to reestablish His Kingdom. And that is what we now read of in this Psalm.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>They also who dwell in distant places are afraid at Your wonders. You call the morning’s dawn and the evening with songs of joy-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The picture is of the knowledge of the God of Israel spreading worldwide, from sun rise to sunset, so that dawn and evening would be accompanied by songs of praise from the Gentiles to the God of Israel. It was in this sense that the roaring of the Gentile seas would be made calm (:7).</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>You visit the earth, and water it; You greatly enrich it. The river of God is full of water. You provide them grain, for so You have ordained it-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Fecundity within the earth / eretz promised to Abraham is part of the blessing for obedience to the covenant. Here David envisages it as happening abundantly- because the people of the earth / land had followed his pathway of repentance and restoration. This is the picture of Eden restored, with the river of God providing enrichment; the picture is repeated in the final visions of God's Kingdom at the end of Revelation. "The river of God" is specifically envisaged as flowing from Zion (<a href='B:230 46:4'>Psa 46:4</a>), lending weight to my suggestions elsewhere that Eden was based around Zion.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>You drench its furrows, You level its ridges, You soften it with showers, You bless it with a crop-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The impression is of superabundant blessing, with God's hand working to create the optimal topography of the land [although "ridges" may refer to the furrows] and provide the optimal rainfall for maximal fruitfulness. "Soften" is the word used of the melting away of the Canaanite tribes before Israel entered the land:&nbsp;</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>You crown the year with Your bounty, Your carts overflow with abundance-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>"Crown" is better 'encircle'. The idea is that God's bounteous blessing is experienced all around the year- and not just at the time of harvest, as understood by the pagan religions. His blessing is not just occasional, but every moment. God's harvest or "carts" is that of His people, such is their identity in His Kingdom. But "carts" is s:w. "paths". The idea also is that this Kingdom situation would come about only when God's paths or ways were followed.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The wilderness grasslands overflow, the hills are clothed with gladness-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The perspective on the land is as it were an aerial view, with the hills and valleys (:13) apparently clothed with blessing. David is seeing things from God's heavenly perspective; this is a vision of the Kingdom of God upon earth.</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>For the Chief Musician. A song. or Psalm-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>I assume from <a href='B:230 72:20'>Psa 72:20</a> that this is still one of the Psalms of David. It is a Psalm of praise to God for all He has done in saving David from some specific situation (:10-12), but it has clearly been reused by a later inspired hand, given the reference to the temple (:13).</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Make a joyful shout to God, all the earth!<strong>- </strong></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The invitation is to the entire eretz to convert to Israel's God. This Psalm imagines that David's invitation to them to praise God will be positively responded to (:4). </p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Sing to the glory of His name! Offer glory and praise!<strong>- </strong></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>By singing along with the words of David's Psalms, the Gentile nations within the eretz (:1) would be praising His Name. David perceived that the offering God really wanted was not so much animals slain upon the altar in Zion, as the sacrifice of praise. David had learned this from his own experience of sinning concerning Uriah and Bathsheba. Unable to offer any sacrifice to atone for what he had done, he concluded that the sacrifice required was a humble heart.</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Tell God, How awesome are Your deeds! Through the greatness of Your power, Your enemies submit themselves to You-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Here David is as it were teaching the Gentiles how to pray to God in praise, putting words in their mouths. The submission of God's former enemies was therefore not forced upon them by God, but was rather a voluntary submission in awe at His power and works, especially His fearsome deeds of judgment upon sinners (s:w. <a href='B:230 64:9'>Psa 64:9</a>).</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>All the earth will worship You, and will sing to You; they will sing to Your name. Selah-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This Psalm imagines that David's invitation to the Gentiles within the eretz to praise God will be positively responded to (:1). They would appreciate God's Name, His essential character and purpose.</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Come and see God’s deeds-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'> awesome work on behalf of the children of men-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>David invites us to come and see the works God did at the Red Sea, commenting: “there did we rejoice in him” (<a href='B:230 66:6'>Psa 66:6</a>). He praises God for saving him in the language of Israel’s Red Sea deliverance, speaking of it as “the day of my trouble” (<a href='B:230 86:7-8'>Psa 86:7-8</a> = <a href='B:20 15:11'>Exo 15:11</a>). He saw how their circumstances and his were in principle the same; he personalized the Scripture he had read, inviting us to play "Bible television" with the text. We are to go and see the Red Sea all over again:&nbsp;</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>He turned the sea into dry land, they went through the river on foot. There we rejoiced in Him-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The Psalms so often encourage Israelites to feel as if they personally had been through the Red Sea experience. Generation would tell to generation the Passover story, and would also sing of God’s greatness as Israel did in Exodus 15 (<a href='B:230 145:5-7'>Psa 145:5-7</a>). Hence: “He turned the sea into dry land</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>there let us (AV: did we) rejoice in him” (<a href='B:230 66:6'>Psa 66:6</a> RVmg:). We too are enabled by Scripture to feel as if we were there, and to rejoice in what God did for us there. This of course depends upon our sense of solidarity with God’s people over time, as well as over space:&nbsp;The message here has special appropriacy to the exiles, who were encouraged to make a similar exodus to the promised land.</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>He rules by His might forever-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The idea is that God has not only been occasionally active by His might in history, such as at the Red Sea (:6). His saving activity is constant and not occasional.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>His eyes watch the nations-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Very relevant to the exiles. God's Angelic "eyes" watch and guide the nations as part of His continual activity towards the salvation of His people. The Hebrew conception of an "eye" was that if it is watching you, then it is guiding and manipulating you (hence the concept of the "evil eye").</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Don’t let the rebellious rise up against Him. Selah-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>"Rebellious" is indeed how Israel were in the wilderness (s:w:&nbsp; <a href='B:160 9:29'>Neh 9:29</a>; <a href='B:230 68:6'>Psa 68:6</a>; <a href='B:230 78:8'>Psa 78:8</a>). David is urging Israel to learn from this and not be rebellious but accept God's guidance of them towards the promised land; especially relevant to the exiles. But sadly they remained rebellious (s:w. <a href='B:290 65:2'>Isa 65:2</a>):&nbsp;</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Praise our God, you peoples! Make the sound of His praise heard-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>David invites the Gentiles to praise "our God", Yahweh of Israel, and in turn to spread the knowledge of Him to others.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>who preserves our life among the living, and doesn’t allow our feet to be moved-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>God's preservation of Israel was by grace, and was intended to be a witness to the nations amongst whom they had been scattered. For the context is of witness to the Gentiles (:8). God had allowed the feet of His people to be moved out of their land, but the intention was that this was to be temporary, and their return would be a witness to the Gentiles amongst whom they lived- leading them to join in and also come to Zion in penitence and faith. And then He would not again allow their feet to be moved from their land (s:w. <a href='B:230 121:3'>Psa 121:3</a>).</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>For You, God, have tested us. You have refined us, as silver is refined-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>These are the intended feelings of the exiles upon restoration, perceiving their captivity as a time of refining and "testing", just as the fathers were tested by Joseph / Jesus (s:w. <a href='B:10 42:15-16'>Gen 42:15-16</a>). But the exiles failed to be refined as intended (<a href='B:290 1:25'>Isa 1:25</a>), and it must be repeated (s:w. <a href='B:450 13:9'>Zec 13:9</a>):&nbsp;</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>You brought us into prison, You laid a burden on our backs-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The imagery of the exile as a prison from which the exiles could be "brought out" is often used in later Isaiah. But most refused that redemption, and preferred to remain in Babylon. The burden laid on their backs is describing their exile in the language of the abuse in Egypt. But their experience there was nowhere near as bad, and the book of Esther reveals the Jews as wealthy and prosperous there.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>You allowed men to ride over our heads. We went through fire and through water, but You brought us to the place of abundance-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This is indeed what happened when Israel were brought out of Egypt, passing through the fire and water of the pillars of cloud and fire leading them. But the exiles for the most part declined this great salvation offered. Instead of men riding over their heads they could have had God's cherubic chariot doing so (s:w. <a href='B:230 68:4'>Psa 68:4</a>; <a href='B:230 68:33'>Psa 68:33</a>; <a href='B:420 3:8'>Hab 3:8</a>).</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>I will come into Your temple with burnt offerings. I will pay my vows to You-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>David desired to offer sacrifice in the sanctuary because of some great deliverance received. This is therefore reworked, under inspiration, with relevance to the time when the temple was built. The restored exiles ought to have vowed to offer sacrifice there in thanksgiving for their deliverance, but the record of the restoration indicates that they did so at best only half heartedly.</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>which my lips promised and my mouth spoke, when I was in distress-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>David had apparently promised that if he was preserved, he would go to the sanctuary and offer sacrifice, and he was eager to do thIsa. His time of "distress" or AV "trouble" therefore looks ahead to the time of Jacob's trouble in the last days.</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>I will offer to You burnt offerings of fat animals, with the offering of rams, I will offer bulls with goats. Selah-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Whenever this Psalm was originally written, it was presumably before David had come to the conclusion that God doesn't want animal sacrifice as much as He desires the sacrifice of a broken heart (<a href='B:230 51:17'>Psa 51:17</a>). Israel unfortunately didn't learn that lesson; for the few exiles who did return did so without contrite hearts, and offered merely tokenistic sacrifices. Or perhaps, if this Psalm is written after the Bathsheba issues (as suggested on :16), David is slipping back from his earlier understanding that God didn't really want sacrifice.</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Come and hear, all you who fear God; I will declare what He has done for my soul-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>David knew his sinfulness, he knew his reliance upon the grace of God, more and more as he got older. One would have thought that after the Bathsheba incident, David would have kept his mouth shut so far as telling other people how to live was concerned. But instead, we find an increasing emphasis in the Psalms (chronologically) upon David's desire to teach others of God's ways- particularly the surrounding Gentile peoples, before whom David had been disgraced over Bathsheba, not to mention from his two faced allegiance to Achish (<a href='B:90 27:8-12'>1Sa 27:8-12</a>). There is real stress upon this evangelistic fervour of David (<a href='B:230 4:3'>Psa 4:3</a>; <a href='B:230 18:49'>Psa 18:49</a>; <a href='B:230 22:25'>Psa 22:25</a>; <a href='B:230 22:31'>Psa 22:31</a>; <a href='B:230 35:18'>Psa 35:18</a>; <a href='B:230 40:9-10'>Psa 40:9-10</a>; <a href='B:230 57:9'>Psa 57:9</a>; <a href='B:230 62:8'>Psa 62:8</a>; <a href='B:230 66:5'>Psa 66:5</a>; <a href='B:230 66:16'>Psa 66:16</a>; <a href='B:230 95:1'>Psa 95:1</a>; <a href='B:230 95:8'>Psa 95:8</a>; <a href='B:230 96:5-8'>Psa 96:5-8</a>; <a href='B:230 96:10'>Psa 96:10</a>; <a href='B:230 100:1-4'>Psa 100:1-4</a>; <a href='B:230 105:1-2'>Psa 105:1-2</a>; <a href='B:230 119:27'>Psa 119:27</a>; <a href='B:230 145:5-6'>Psa 145:5-6</a>; <a href='B:230 145:12'>Psa 145:12</a>). Indeed, <a href='B:230 71:18'>Psa 71:18</a> records the "old and greyheaded" David pleading with God not to die until he had taught "thy strength unto this generation". As with Paul years later, the only reason he wanted to stay alive was in order to witness the Gospel of grace to others. David&nbsp;therefore coped with his deep inner traumas by looking out of himself to those around him, eagerly desiring to share with them the pureness of God's grace. He didn't do this as some kind of self-help psychiatry; it came naturally from a realization of his own sinfulness and God's mercy, and the wonderful willingness&nbsp;of God to extend this to men. David's desire to declare what had been done for his "soul" was not simply the message of forgiveness; rather it was of spiritual and psychological restoration through the work of the Holy Spirit (<a href='B:230 23:3'>Psa 23:3</a>; <a href='B:230 51:12'>Psa 51:12</a>). The intention was that the exiles would follow his path of repentance toward such restoration of their soul.</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>I cried to Him with my mouth. He was extolled with my tongue-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The idea is that David prayed for help and at the same time praised God for already answering him, such was his faith. Hence GNB "I cried to him for help; I praised him with songs".</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>If I cherished sin in my heart, the Lord wouldn’t have listened-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'> This appears self righteous. For apart from the Lord Jesus, there is no heart in which there has been no cherishing of sin. In the matter of Bathsheba, David is set up as the parade example of a man who lusted in his heart, and then performed the fantasized sin. And yet here he predicates God's answer to his prayer as being on the basis of his spotless heart. He fails to perceive that his deliverance or salvation was by grace. This raises the question as to whether this Psalm originated before or after the sin with Bathsheba. If after (see on :16), then again we wonder as to the extent of his repentance; he apparently failed to maintain the intensity of his grasp of grace and his own sinfulness. And we all have that same tendency.</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>But most certainly, God has listened. He has heard the voice of my prayer-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>As discussed on :18, David wrongly predicates God's listening to his voice upon his apparently spotless heart (:18). We can note that he speaks of the voice of his prayer, as if within verbalized prayer there is an essence of our spirit which is the true voice of the prayer, and God hears thIsa. Therefore it is wrong to think that we cannot pray well or effectively because we aren't good at verbalizing.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>For the Chief Musician. With stringed instruments. A Psalm, A song-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This appears to have initially been a thanksgiving song for a good harvest, but it clearly has been developed to understand the harvest as the spiritual harvest of Gentiles for God's Kingdom, with God's blessing of Israel by grace leading to Gentiles being converted to the God of Israel.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>May God be merciful to us, bless us, and cause His face to shine on us. Selah-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Heb. 'shine with us', as if God's joy is now that of His people. Blessing is often understood as forgiveness; this was the "mercy" implicit in the promises to Abraham and David. The shining of God's face with His people suggests restoration of fellowship and loving acceptance of them by grace. And this was what led to the harvest now to be celebrated in the Psalm.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The allusion is clearly to the High Priestly blessing of the people in <a href='B:40 6:24-25'>Num 6:24-25</a>. But that blessing was to be shared with all the Gentiles. This is the same idea with which Psalms 68 begins, supporting the suggestion that the Psalms are often paired. This Psalms 67 would thus be an introduction to Psalms 68.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>That Your way may be known on earth, and Your salvation among all nations-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>God's grace in forgiving Israel (:1) was to reveal His way to the rest of the nations in the eretz, and serve as an advertisement for the fact that Yahweh is a God who saves; a principle brought to final articulation in the person of the Lord Jesus, Yehoshua, Yah's salvation. This was based upon the experience of David, who wished to advertise to the world his forgiveness and experience of God's grace after his sin. The idea was that the exiles would follow his pattern of repentance and his path to restoration. They didn't, but finally they will, at the last day.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>let the peoples praise You, God. Let all the peoples praise You-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This may be an invitation for the "peoples" of the eretz to praise Israel's God for His characteristic salvation and mercy (:1,2). "Let" can as well be translated "May::.". Although "let" might suggest David was asking that Yahweh extend His saving plan to the Gentiles even at that stage.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Oh let the nations be glad and sing for joy, for You will judge the peoples with equity, and govern the nations on earth. Selah-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The vision was of God's kingdom or governance being over all the nations of the eretz / earth; and because of their acceptance of this, they would be glad. The justice of His judgments would be a cause for joy. This vision of kingdom or empire building was totally opposite to that understood at the time, where nations were militarily and economically dominated and forced into submission. Yahweh's Kingdom would extend by the choice of the subjected peoples, who would be awed by God's grace to Israel, who would become the parade example of what it meant to have Yahweh as King.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Let the peoples praise You, God. Let all the peoples praise You-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>"Let" might suggest David was asking that Yahweh extend His saving plan to the Gentiles even at that stage. But David was well ahead of his time in this desire. For Israel failed to be the example of God's kingship over a people, and the Gentiles therefore weren't encouraged to repent. We note the emphasis upon "all the peoples"- including their recent abusers, those whom Israel might consider beyond God's saving purpose.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The earth has yielded its increase. God, even our own God, will bless us-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The God of Israel would bless "us", Israel, with great harvests, and this would be a visible testament to His grace toward them. But the restored exiles experienced failed harvests; because they didn't repent. Perhaps "God" rather than "Yahweh" is used at this point because this would be the perspective of the observing Gentiles.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>For the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David. A song-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This appears to be a song sung as the Israelites went out to battle. They took courage from God's previous marchings forth to victory, both from Egypt and then through Canaan; and the spirit of those victories was to be repeated, and come to ultimate term in the victory of the Lord Jesus and the establishment of His Kingdom upon earth.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Let God arise! Let His enemies be scattered! Let them who hate Him also flee before Him-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The allusion is clearly to the High Priestly blessing of the people in <a href='B:40 6:24-25'>Num 6:24-25</a>, given whenever they began their onward journey to the promised land. This was how <a href='B:230 67:1'>Psa 67:1</a> begins, but the point is made in that Psalm that the blessing was to be shared with all the Gentiles. This is the same idea with which Psalms 68 begins, supporting the suggestion that the Psalms are often paired. Psalms 67 would thus be an introduction to Psalms 68.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>God sees those who love the world as hating Him. Likewise the Bible speaks of the world as being sinful and actively hating God, whereas to human eyes the world is for the most part ignorant. Thus the Canaanite nations did not know much about the God of Israel, and yet they are described as actively hating Him (<a href='B:40 10:35'>Num 10:35</a> NIV; <a href='B:230 68:1'>Psa 68:1</a>). </p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>As smoke is driven away, so drive them away. As wax melts before the fire, so let the wicked perish at the presence of God-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This is the language used by David of the final judgment (<a href='B:230 1:4'>Psa 1:4</a>; <a href='B:230 112:10'>Psa 112:10</a>) but he sees in every victory of God's people a foretaste of the final victory. It was this kind of victory which could have been granted to the exiles over Babylon (s:w. <a href='B:290 41:2'>Isa 41:2</a>)- had they desired to really leave and restore the Kingdom. But they didn't, and so this kind of victory over the nations surrounding Zion will be finally given to the Lord Jesus at the last day (s:w. <a href='B:400 1:4'>Mic 1:4</a>).</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>But let the righteous be glad, may they rejoice before God; yes, let them rejoice with gladness-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The conflicts between Israel and other nations are seen by David as a struggle between the righteous and the "wicked" (:2). But Israel themselves were never totally righteous; the dichotomy is over simplistic and even self-righteous. But it will ultimately be this way when the Lord Jesus returns.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Sing to God! Sing praises to His name! Extol Him who rides on the clouds: to Yah, His name! Rejoice before Him!<strong>- </strong></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>God "rode upon the heavens" to save Israel from Egypt and the Egyptians (s:w. <a href='B:50 33:26'>Deu 33:26</a>; <a href='B:420 3:8'>Hab 3:8</a>). David felt this was how God had delivered him personally (s:w. <a href='B:230 18:10'>Psa 18:10</a>). The allusion is clearly to the cherubim, the chariots upon which God rode. In the context of the exiles, God was ready to ride forth upon the cherubim which Ezekiel had seen in vision in Babylon by the Chebar river. But Israel would not.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>A father of the fatherless, and a defender of the widows, is God in His holy habitation-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The exiles were those who had been left as fatherless and widows in the destruction of Jerusalem (s:w. <a href='B:310 5:3'>Lam 5:3</a>), because they had despised the fatherless (<a href='B:330 22:7'>Eze 22:7</a>). But God was prepared to arise and deliver the fatherless. But the reality was that they precluded this potential operation of God by preferring to remain in Babylon:&nbsp;</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>God sets the lonely in families. He brings out the prisoners with singing, but the rebellious dwell in a sun-scorched land-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The allusion is to how Israel in Egypt were saved through uniting in family units around the Passover lamb. Those without families were set together with families, and were delivered as families. And God was willing to repeat the Exodus deliverance for the captives in Babylon / Persia. See on <a href='B:230 107:41'>Psa 107:41</a>.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>We forsake all human relationships to follow the Lord Jesus (<a href='B:470 19:27-29'>Mat 19:27-29</a>). And He promises to compensate for this even in this life. But it depends to what extent we are willing to accept and perceive it. Through meaningful fellowship with our brethren we will find those relationships which we have given up compensated for, even if we aren’t physically close to our brethren. To be set in a new family is paralleled with being brought out from slavery. Part of the process of our redemption is that we are set in a new ecclesial family. The implication of Psalms 68 could be that it was in these family groups that they travelled through the wilderness. The N:C:V. reads: “God is in his holy Temple. He is a father to orphans, and he defends the widows. God gives the lonely a home. He leads prisoners out with joy::.". The very house / family of God becomes the house / family of the lonely. Hence the ecclesia is the house of God (<a href='B:530 3:16'>1Co 3:16</a>). We find true family in the new family of God.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>God, when You went forth before Your people, when You marched through the wilderness::. Selah-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>As God went before the people in the pillars of fire and cloud, so He would lead His people to victory again. And the particular reference was to the possibility of delivering the exiles from captivity and leading them through the wilderness, perhaps also led by Angels, to the promised land.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The earth trembled. The sky also poured down rain at the presence of the God of Sinai-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'> at the presence of God, the God of Israel-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Earthquake and rain was sent at the time of the exodus. This was in fact to soften up Canaan for the arrival of the Israelites; they could have entered a land well watered by these rains, with harvest ready to be picked (:9). But because of their rebellion, this great potential didn't come about; because they in their hearts turned back to Egypt. And so it was with the exiles.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>You, God, sent a plentiful rain. You confirmed Your inheritance when it was weary-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>As noted on :8, this rain was to prepare Canaan to be full of fruit by the time the Israelites arrived there. They left at Passover, and were intended to arrive in Canaan at harvest time. But such great potentials are wasted all the time by the desire to remain in Egypt / Babylon.</p>


text:
<h2>Your congregation lived therein. You, God, prepared Your goodness for the poor-</h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This 'preparation' is as explained on :8,9. The language of inheritance (e:g. <a href='B:670 1:4'>1Pe 1:4</a>) and preparation of reward (<a href='B:470 25:34'>Mat 25:34</a>; <a href='B:500 14:1'>Joh 14:1</a>) in the NT is alluding to the OT background of the land being prepared by the Angels for Israel to inherit (<a href='B:20 15:17'>Exo 15:17</a> Heb:; 23:20; <a href='B:230 68:9-10'>Psa 68:9-10</a> Heb:) . We must be careful not to think that our promised inheritance is only eternal life; it is something being personally prepared for each of us. The language of preparation seems inappropriate if our reward is only eternal life.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The Lord announced the word; the women who proclaimed it are a great company-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>There is the implication that a great number of Angels- perhaps the guardian Angels of each of the Israelites- were with them too: "great was the company of those that published it::. even thousands of Angels" (<a href='B:230 68:11'>Psa 68:11</a> AV). This "great company" is defined in :17 as "the chariots of God are twenty thousand, even thousands of angels". These Angels were the cherubic chariots which are envisaged as going out with the Israelites to every battle. The word published was the word concerning Israel leaving Egypt and overcoming every obstacle that lay in the way to entering and possessing the promised land. The same promise is to each of us in our journey from the Red Sea of baptism to the Kingdom (<a href='B:530 10:1-2'>1Co 10:1-2</a>).</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>If we prefer the rendering "the women::.", then the reference is to Miriam and the women of Israel proclaiming God's word of deliverance as already fulfilled. And it was women who first proclaimed the Lord's resurrection, the surmounting of all that may appear to lie in our way towards possession of the Kingdom.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Kings of armies flee! They flee! The women who wait at home divide the spoil-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>We note the emphasis upon the women (:11). The Canaanites did indeed flee, but Israel failed to believe that. They preferred to think that the Canaanites were invincible, and to return to Egyptian bondage. It was the same in principle at the restoration. Enemies would turn their backs and flee only if Israel were faithful to the covenant.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>while you men sleep among the campfires-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This appears to allude to the rebuke of Deborah that the men of Israel were cowards and not using the great Divine potential for victory (<a href='B:70 5:16'>Jdg 5:16</a>). This would fit the context of the praise of women at this time (:11,12).</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>the wings of a dove sheathed with silver, her feathers with shining gold-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Israel is the turtle dove (<a href='B:230 74:19'>Psa 74:19</a>). Perhaps this is an allusion to some poem known at the time, lamenting the glory which could have been Israel's but was wasted potential. In which case this battle cry is urging the male warriors to not be like their historical counterparts and fail to use all the Divine potential for victory. Or the idea may be to rebuke a love of silver and gold rather than arising and fighting to possess the land- a rebuke appropriate to the exiles who preferred the wealth of Babylon.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>When the Almighty scattered kings in her, it snowed on Zalmon-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The scattered kings in the land ("her") would drop their weapons and armour and flee (:12). With the sun shining off all those items, it would appear like the snow which fell on Salmon, a hill near Shechem (<a href='B:70 9:48'>Jdg 9:48</a>), the central point in the land. Or perhaps there is reference to a snowstorm assisting the rout of enemies.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The mountains of Bashan are majestic mountains, the mountains of Bashan are rugged-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>LXX "The mountain of God is a rich mountain; a swelling mountain, a rich mountain". This would refer to Zion (as in :16), which was to be elevated as the central focus of God's Kingdom. "Mountains" would then be read as an intensive plural for the one great mountain. The one great mountain of Bashan, if we retain that reading, would be Hermon.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Why do you look in envy, you rugged mountains, at the mountain where God chooses to reign? Yes, Yahweh will dwell there forever-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The Psalm now moves in focus away from being a battle song as the troops marched out (:1) to describing the Kingdom of God to be restored in Israel. For this was to be the final outcome of all Israel's battles. Yahweh will dwell there eternally only when the Kingdom is reestablished in Israel. The surrounding hills around Zion represent therefore the nations surrounding Israel. They were not to be envious, but rather to accept Israel's God enthroned in Zion (:30,31).</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The chariots of God are tens of thousands and thousands of thousands. The Lord is among them, as in Sinai, in the sanctuary-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>As explained on :11, the huge Angelic activity of God at the time of the exodus could have been replicated for the exiles, and for Israel in any of their conflicts. There is the implication that God would again gather Israel through those Angels to make another covenant with them. Jeremiah 31 and Ezekiel 20 offered a new covenant to the exiles, seeing they had broken the old covenant. But they refused it. These things were all reapplied and rescheduled. For the huge cherubic activity of God now works to bring individuals of all nations to a point, as at Sinai, where delivered from Egypt they can accept the new covenant.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>You have ascended on high, You have led away captives in your victory train, You have received gifts to distribute among men, yes, among the rebellious also, that Yah God might dwell there-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>These words are quoted specifically about the victory of the Lord Jesus on the cross, His ascension to Heaven and gift of the Holy Spirit (<a href='B:560 4:8'>Eph 4:8</a>). As noted on :17, the exiles generally refused the scenario made possible for them. And yet the offer of a new covenant remains and has been extended to individuals of all nations, brought through the Red Sea of baptism to a point (cp. Sinai, :17) where they can enter covenant.</p><h2>Israel were slaves in Egypt, and then after the Red Sea baptism became slaves of God. <a href='B:230 68:18'>Psa 68:18</a> pictures them as a train of captives being led out of Egypt, merging into the image of a train of a captivity led into a different captivity. Romans 6 powerfully brings home the point: we were slaves of sin, but now are become slaves of righteousness. The gifts of the Spirit which were given were initially revealed in a miraculous form, but the essential purpose of the gift of the Spirit is so that God might dwell among us, even in the hearts of the formerly rebellious. And this is just as much His activity today as ever before.</h2>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Blessed be the Lord, who daily bears our burdens, even the God who is our salvation. Selah-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>LXX "Blessed be the Lord God, blessed be the Lord daily; and the God of our salvation shall prosper us". Israel's deliverance and salvation from Egypt become the spiritual experience of all those saved in Christ. "Burdens" were associated with the slavery in Egypt; it was as if God was with them in that slavery, carrying their burdens with them. And this would have had special relevance to the exiles in Babylon and Assyria.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>God is to us a God of deliverance; to Yahweh the Lord belongs escape from death-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Remember that this was initially a battle song as troops began to march to war (see on :1). The comfort was that God would save them from death, because that is the lead characteristic of Yahweh. And that would be ultimately true- even if they died in battle, the Israelites had the unique hope of the resurrection of the body.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>But God will strike through the head of His enemies, the hairy scalp of such a one as still continues in his guiltiness-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Thus would suggest that the Israelites were only marching to war against the impenitent who had refused God's calls to repent. The allusion is to the striking of the serpent upon the head (<a href='B:10 3:15'>Gen 3:15</a>), and Israel were to be as the seed of the woman bringing this about.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The Lord said, I will bring you again from Bashan, I will bring you again from the depths of the sea-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This appears to reference words of God unrecorded in the previous historical records. Or the idea may be that as God had saved Israel from Egypt through the Red Sea, so He would do so "again" in every struggle of the Israelites. And this will come ultimately true at the last day.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>that you may crush them, dipping your foot in blood, that the tongues of your dogs may have their portion from your enemies-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The taking of a portion or inheritance may allude to the conquest of Canaan, which the Israelite soldiers were to replicate every time they marched to battle (:1). These words were used by David of how God had wounded all his enemies under his feet (<a href='B:230 18:38'>Psa 18:38</a>) and he wished this to be the experience of all God's people. So often he sees his life as a pattern for God's people to follow.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>They have seen Your processions, God, even the processions of my God, my King, into the sanctuary-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The "they" may refer to God's enemies (:23), but it is hard to understand how they had seen the processions in the sanctuary. Perhaps the processions were victory parades after the victory, with the captive enemies seeing them in shame (see on :25). Or we may go with LXX "Thy goings, O God, have been seen; the goings of my God, the king, in the sanctuary". We note that David repeatedly calls God "my king" or "the king". He realized that he was only king on God's behalf, and all the desire of Israel for a human king had been a rejection of Yahweh.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The singers went before, the minstrels followed after in the midst of the ladies playing with tambourines, singing-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>We note the repeated focus upon the role of women (see on :11,12). The reference to tambourines recalls Miriam and the women of Israel rejoicing at the salvation from Egypt. The processions in the sanctuary of :24 were therefore envisaged as processions of praise for victories granted in the spirit of that over Egypt.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Bless God in the congregations, even the Lord in the assembly of Israel!<strong>- </strong></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This could be an invitation to the Gentiles to praise God along with the Israelites. This is a common theme of David. The "congregations" may be an intensive plural for the one great congregation of Israel. David often talks of how he wishes the congregation to praise God. It is the struggle of every spiritually minded and righteous man to humble himself to accept he is only part of a far wider congregation, comprised of believers who may frankly be less spiritually minded than himself (<a href='B:230 26:12'>Psa 26:12</a>; <a href='B:230 35:18'>Psa 35:18</a>; <a href='B:230 68:26'>Psa 68:26</a>). David and the Lord Jesus are parade examples of achieving this sense. LXX "Praise God in the congregations, the Lord from the fountains of Israel".</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>There is little Benjamin, their ruler, the princes of Judah, their council, the princes of Zebulun, and the princes of Naphtali-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The idea may be that the two and ten tribe kingdoms were represented together. LXX "There is Benjamin the younger one in ecstasy, the princes of Juda their rulers, the princes of Zabulon, the princes of Nephthali". Perhaps Zebulun and Naphtali were chosen because they were commended for their bravery at the time of Deborah (<a href='B:70 5:18'>Jdg 5:18</a>), and she has been in view in :13, in her criticizing of the other tribes for not being as Zebulun and Naphtali. Or in the context of the exiles, it could be that they are mentioned as the areas which suffered most from the invaders (<a href='B:290 11:1'>Isa 11:1</a>). But they are envisaged here in glory in Zion.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Your God has commanded your strength. Strengthen, God, that which You have done for us-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>There may be an allusion here to 'Hezekiah', strengthened by Yah.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Because of Your temple at Jerusalem kings shall bring presents to You-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Clearly this was rewritten at some point after David, or maybe David was looking forward to the temple which Solomon would build. In this case, his vision for that temple was as a focal point for the Gentiles to come to and learn of Yahweh. Instead it became filled with their paganic images.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Rebuke the wild animal of the reeds, the multitude of the bulls, with the calves of the peoples. Being humbled, may they bring tribute of bars of silver. Scatter the nations that delight in war-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The vision was that entity which had abused God's people, be it Babylon, Assyria or Egypt, would be humbled and come to Zion in repentance with tribute to Yahweh; and those who refused to repent would be scattered in condemnation. But LXX has "Rebuke the wild beasts of the reed: let the crowd of bulls with the heifers of the nations be rebuked, so that they who have been proved with silver may not be shut out: scatter thou the nations that wish for wars". Those refined as silver refer to the exiles after their spiritual education in Babylon; but the truth was that they did not respond as intended, and remained not purified.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Princes shall come out of Egypt, Ethiopia shall hurry to stretch out her hands to God-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>What began as a battle song ends up with a vision of the Gentile enemies accepting the God of Israel. This was the intended outcome of the campaign, rather than mere punishment for its own sake.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Sing to God, you kingdoms of the earth! Sing praises to the Lord! Selah-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This appears to be encouragement to the Gentile enemies to praise Israel's God. This was ever David's vision, as it is God's.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>To Him who rides on the heaven of heavens, which are of old; behold, He utters His voice, a mighty voice-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>LXX "Sing to God that rides on the heaven of heaven, eastward: lo, he will utter a mighty sound with his voice". The reference to "eastward" would allude to the east wind which destroyed the Egyptians, associated with the clouds upon which the cherubim as it were rode. The mighty voice of God may be that which is verbalized in :34; it is an appeal for repentance and acceptance of Yahweh. "Which are of old" suggests that how God has acted in history, He will do again; a major theme of this Psalm.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Ascribe strength to God! His excellency is over Israel, His strength is in the skies-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This is an appeal for the enemies to repent; to perceive that He is king over Israel, they are His Kingdom; and the Gentile peoples can likewise become part of that Kingdom. For that was ever God's intention.</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>For the Chief Musician. To the tune of Lilies. By David-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Paul confirms this Davidic authorship (<a href='B:520 11:9'>Rom 11:9</a>). But the Psalm seems so relevant to Jeremiah sinking in the mud. Perhaps David's Psalm was edited under inspiration to be relevant to Jeremiah, or was prayed by him and then rewritten by him. It is clearly appropriate to the Lord's crucifixion and is cited several times about Him in the New Testament. The parallels with Psalms 22 mean that it likely has the same original context- in the sufferings experienced by David as a result of his sin with Bathsheba. The Lord Jesus on the cross was so identified with sinners that although personally innocent, He fully entered into the feelings of condemned sinners. And therefore the words and thoughts of David when at this point are appropriated to Him on the cross.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Save me, God, for the waters have come up to my neck!-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>David was at a point where he felt death was imminent. But as suggested above, it could well be that the Psalm was rewritten by Jeremiah on reflection at his experiences in the dungeon.</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>I sink in deep mire, where there is no foothold. I have come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This is the picture of a man treading water with the last of his strength as he faces death by drowning. The exact historical reference within David's life isn't clear. It could be, as suggested on :1, that his general sense of being overcome by troubles has been developed by Jeremiah.</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>I am weary with my crying. My throat is dry. My eyes fail, looking for my God-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The idea seems to be that he has put his last energy into appealing for God's salvation, but this had not been forthcoming. The Lord's desire for a drink because "I thirst" was therefore only so that He could continue praying. <a href='B:230 119:82'>Psa 119:82</a> has the same idea, in that David's eyes failed for looking for the fulfilment of God's word that he would become king and his kingdom be established. Perhaps that was the original reference here, as David faced the loss of his kingdom to usurpers like Absalom and Adonijah.</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Those who hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of my head-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>See on :8. The continued emphasis in David's psalms upon "without cause" surely reflects a self righteousness (<a href='B:230 35:19'>Psa 35:19</a>; <a href='B:230 69:4'>Psa 69:4</a>; <a href='B:230 109:3'>Psa 109:3</a>; <a href='B:230 119:161'>Psa 119:161</a>), and a refusal to accept that what happened to him was a result of his sin with Bathsheba- as Nathan had explained. For David's righteousness was only impressive relative to the wickedness of his enemies; before God, it was filthy rags. It was true that Saul persecuted David "without cause" (s:w. <a href='B:90 19:5'>1Sa 19:5</a>), but the experience of "without cause" persecution can lead us to an inappropriate self-righteousness. This is what happened to Job, who also suffered "without cause" (s:w. <a href='B:220 2:3'>Job 2:3</a>), and had to be convicted of self-righteousness at the end of the story. And it seems this happened to David. David himself intended to shed blood "without cause" and was only saved from it by grace (s:w. <a href='B:90 25:31'>1Sa 25:31</a>).</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>In the context of the consequences of his sin with Bathsheba, David says that his sins and their consequences are "more than the hairs of my head" (<a href='B:230 40:12'>Psa 40:12</a>). But he uses the same phrase in saying that his "without a cause" enemies are "more than the hairs of my head" (<a href='B:230 69:4'>Psa 69:4</a>). But again we note that he considers those consequences of his sin to be "without cause", and we wonder at the depth of his repentance and sense of culpability.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Those who want to cut me off, being my enemies wrongfully, are mighty-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>It is inevitable that to someone of the Lord’s intellectual ability as the Son of God, to a man with His sense of justice and with His knowledge of the Jews and their Law, everything within Him would have cried out at the protracted injustices of His trials. He had the strong sense within Him at this time that He was hated without cause, that the Jews were "mine enemies wrongfully" (<a href='B:230 69:4'>Psa 69:4</a>). I suggested on Psalms 22 that this struggle with injustice and the apparent inconsistency of God was the Lord's final struggle in the moments before He died, and was required to bring Him to the acme of humility required for His final moment of death (Php_2:7-10). However, on the level of David, he was wrong to consider that it was somehow unfair that he was suffering the results of his sin with Bathsheba; for such troubles were exactly what Nathan had predicted would happen.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>I have to restore what I didn’t take away-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>"Take away" is the term used for stolen or lost goods which were to be restored. Perhaps there is reference to some false accusation against David which he felt aggrieved about. The allusion is to Jacob having to make good for the lost cattle of Laban during his time of exile, which David often looked to as representative of his experiences. But I suggested on :1 that this Psalm may have been rewritten by Jeremiah, so maybe there was some such incident in his life, perhaps concerning the property be redeemed. But these possible incidents are all typical of the way the Lord Jesus restored salvation and ultimately the garden of Eden, suffering in order to restore that which He took not away, and epitomized in the way He restored the ear of Malchus just before His death. That incident was perhaps providentially used by the Father to prepare His Son for His death to restore that which He had not taken away.</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>God, You know my foolishness. My sins aren’t hidden from You-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>I noted on :4 that David was failing to accept the consequences of his sins with Bathsheba and Uriah. But true to our own experience, we can in one breath struggle to accept consequences of sin, minimizing what we did long ago- and yet almost in the same breath, accept full responsibility for them. But again, we may well enquire whether "foolishness" is not rather a mild term for what he had done (also used in <a href='B:230 38:5'>Psa 38:5</a>); surely "wickedness" would have been more appropriate. "Foolishness" is often used in Proverbs to refer to unwisdom and even silliness. But what David did surely requires more extreme language. We note that David has been quick to use a wide range of harsh adjectives and ideas in describing the wickedness of others like Saul who had tried to murder the innocent. And David had actually done so.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>"Why (oh why) hast Thou forsaken me?" is surely the Lord Jesus searching His conscience with desperate intensity, finding nothing wrong, and crying to God to show Him where He had failed, why the Father had forsaken Him. It may be that initially He assumed He had sinned (<a href='B:230 69:5'>Psa 69:5</a>), going through the self-doubt which David went through at the time of Absalom's rebellion (<a href='B:230 3:2'>Psa 3:2</a>). As David had felt then that God had cast him off, even though "my lovingkindness will I not utterly take from him, nor suffer my faithfulness to fail", so the Lord felt (<a href='B:230 89:33'>Psa 89:33</a>; <a href='B:230 89:38'>Psa 89:38</a>). But then with an unsurpassedly rigorous self-examination, He came to know that He really hadn't. This means that once over the crisis, our Lord died with a purity of conscience known by no other being, with a profound sense of His own totality of righteousness. Again, this enables us to better enter into the intensity of "It is finished".</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Don’t let those who wait for You be shamed on my account, Lord Yahweh of Armies. Don’t let those who seek You be brought to dishonour through me, God of Israel-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>"Wait" is better "hope". Perhaps David has in view those who were hoping for the fuller establishment of God's Kingdom on earth under his kingship, which hope appeared to be dashed whilst he was now exiled during the rebellion of Adonijah or Absalom. David had supporters at the time of Absalom's rebellion, who remained in Jerusalem pretending to be on Absalom's side, but working to bring down his coup. And David here prays for them.</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Because for Your sake I have borne reproach. Shame has covered my face-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>But David's shame was surely because of his own sake, and not for God's sake. He always seems to struggle in taking full responsibility for the consequences of his sins. But it could be argued that he means that his reproach was because his enemies were jealous of his spirituality, and therefore they reproached him for the sake of his relationship with God.</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>I have become a stranger to my brothers, an alien to my mother’s children-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Absalom's rebellion had been orchestrated over many years, and it seems he got David's own brothers onside with him. Ahithophel was Bathsheba's grandfather and it seems he too had fomented opposition to David amongst his own family. But suffering consequences of his sin within his own family was exactly what Nathan had said would happen; and now it happens, David appears to rail against it. But the human pain of it all must not be thereby minimized. David loved his parents, especially caring for their safe keeping in his wilderness years; only to be forsaken by them (the Hebrew means just that), and to be rejected by his brothers and sisters (<a href='B:230 27:10'>Psa 27:10</a>; <a href='B:230 38:11'>Psa 38:11</a>; <a href='B:230 69:8'>Psa 69:8</a>; <a href='B:230 88:18'>Psa 88:18</a>). All this was after the pattern of Job, to whom David here alludes (see on <a href='B:220 19:12-14'>Job 19:12-14</a>).</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The essence of all this happened to the Lord Jesus, whose brothers initially did not believe in Him. "Stranger" implies a Gentile. The Lord Jesus was accused of being the illegitimate son of a Roman soldier. The way He compared Himself to a Samaritan, half Jew and half Gentile, shows that especially on the cross, this is how He felt. He was mindful of both Jewish and Gentile aspects of His future body as He died. Mary was a woman, a real mother, and her special love for Jesus would have been noticed by the others. This probably had something to do with the fact that all her other children had rejected Jesus as a "stranger", i:e. a Gentile; perhaps they too believed that this Jesus was the result of mum's early fling with a passing Roman soldier.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>In Gethsemane the Lord spoke of drinking the cup of His final death and suffering. But earlier He had spoken in the present tense: “the cup that I drink of::. the baptism that I am baptized with" (<a href='B:480 10:38'>Mar 10:38</a>). The drinking of the cup of death was ongoing. Likewise there are several verses in Psalms 22, 69 which are evidently relevant to both the Lord's life and also His final hours on the cross. "The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up" is in the context of the cross, but is applied to an earlier period of the Lord's life (<a href='B:230 69:9'>Psa 69:9</a> cp. <a href='B:500 2:17'>Joh 2:17</a>). "I am become a stranger unto my brethren, and an alien unto my mother's children" is another example (<a href='B:230 69:8'>Psa 69:8</a>); it is a prophecy about the final sufferings of the Lord in crucifixion, and yet it is elsewhere quoted about the experiences of His ministry. And “they hated me without a cause" (<a href='B:230 69:4'>Psa 69:4</a>) was true throughout the Lord’s life (<a href='B:500 15:25'>Joh 15:25</a>) as well as particularly in His death.</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>For the zeal of Your house consumes me-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>See on :8. On a human level, David seems to have become obsessed with preparing for the physical building of the temple in his old age. He truly commented: " The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up" (<a href='B:230 69:9'>Psa 69:9</a>). The RV margin of <a href='B:130 28:12'>1Ch 28:12</a> makes us wonder whether the dimensions of the temple were in fact made up within David’s own mind: “David gave to Solomon his son the pattern</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'> the pattern that he had in his spirit&nbsp; [AV “by the spirit”] for the</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'> house of the Lord”. But here David cites his obsession with building a temple as a kind of reason for considering that his suffering the consequence of sin was unreasonable. But the New Testament reapplies these words to the Lord's zeal for cleansing the temple.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The Law taught that a man had to bring a burnt offering, of his own voluntary will, in symbol of his own dedication to his God. It was to be consumed by the flames of the Christ-altar, until all that was left was a pile of ashes. And he was to see in this a parable of his own life; totally consumed in service, until at the end, we're left a pile of ashes. We are as water spilt upon the ground that cannot be gathered again. The Man we follow is the supreme example. He knew himself that "the zeal of Your house consumes me"; the same Hebrew word is used as in <a href='B:30 6:10'>Lev 6:10</a>: "take up the ashes which the fire has consumed".</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The idea of deferral of fulfilment is common enough in Scripture once you look for it. “The wrath of the Lord was upon Judah” in Hezekiah’s time; but he made a covenant with God and cleansed the temple “that his fierce wrath may turn away from us” (<a href='B:140 29:8'>2Ch 29:8</a>; <a href='B:140 29:10'>2Ch 29:10</a>). But this day of the Lord’s wrath was deferred until 90 years later (<a href='B:430 1:18'>Zep 1:18</a>; <a href='B:430 2:2'>Zep 2:2</a>). Hezekiah’s zealous cleansing of the temple (<a href='B:140 29:12-16'>2Ch 29:12-16</a>) cannot fail to have been one application of <a href='B:230 69:9'>Psa 69:9</a> “The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up”- and yet these words are applied to the Lord’s cleansing of the temple and His death in the first century. Could it not be that the Lord Jesus cleansed the temple fully understanding these things, and seeking to defer God’s wrath upon Judah, to give them a chance to repent? And it was delayed- in that there was no immediate wrath from Heaven against the Jews for murdering the Son of God. And yet the days were shortened as well as deferred for the elect’s sake. An amazing Father somehow builds all these various factors into His time periods. Truly everything happens in our lives at the ‘right’ time!</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The reproaches of those who reproach You have fallen on me-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Scriptures which were relevant to Christ are actually directly applicable to us too, who are in Christ. Thus Paul reasons: "Christ pleased not himself, but as it is written (he quotes <a href='B:230 69:9'>Psa 69:9</a>), The reproaches of them that reproached thee fell on me. For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning:::." (<a href='B:520 15:3-4'>Rom 15:3-4</a>). So here Paul points out a well known Messianic prophesy, applies it to Christ, and then says that it was written for us. This is exactly Peter's point, when he says that the words which were spoken to Christ at the transfiguration were also for our benefit, and that the word of prophecy which we have is to be treated in the same manner as if we had been cowering with Peter on the mount, hearing the words which Moses and Elijah spoke to Jesus. &nbsp;</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>When I wept and I fasted, that was to my reproach-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>I suggested on :7 that the subconscious reason for David's reproach was his relationship with God. And this was certainly true for the Lord Jesus whom he typified, as it was true for Jeremiah (see on :1). David had earlier observed that when Saul was sick he had wept and fasted for him (<a href='B:230 35:13'>Psa 35:13</a>), and he did so again at Saul's death; and perhaps this was being politically used against him.</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>When I made sackcloth my clothing, I became a byword to them-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>In the context of the Lord Jesus, we see this fulfilled in the continual usage of the words "Jesus" and "Christ" as bywords to this day. Becoming a byword was the punishment for breaking the covenant (s:w. <a href='B:50 28:37'>Deu 28:37</a>). The Lord Jesus was therefore suffering as representative of a sinful, condemned Israel. The exiles ought to have found comfort in these prophecies. On the level of David, he was mocked as one suffering for breaking the covenant. When in fact it was quite the other way around.</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Those who sit in the gate talk against me; I am the song of the drunkards-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This is another allusion to Job, whom David continually sees as his pattern (see on <a href='B:220 19:12-14'>Job 19:12-14</a>). It was David's own son who stood in the gate talking against his own father (<a href='B:100 15:2-6'>2Sa 15:2-6</a>). This was the typical consequence of David's sin with Bathsheba which Nathan had predicted; and yet when it happened, David complains about it, as if still struggling to accept Nathan's words, and not focused enough upon the simple wonder of the fact he had been forgiven and his life preserved by God's amazing grace.</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>But as for me, my prayer is to You, Yahweh, in an acceptable time. God, in the abundance of Your grace, answer me in the truth of Your salvation-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>In the context, these are the thoughts of Christ on the cross. As He prayed on the cross, so we should arm ourselves with the same attitude of mind in prayer (cp. <a href='B:670 4:1'>1Pe 4:1</a>). These words are alluded to in <a href='B:540 6:2'>2Co 6:2</a>, where we are told to draw near to God (and encourage others to do so), because now is the accepted time and the day of our salvation. The crucified Lord reflected there that His prayer was offered to God "in an acceptable time". And yet this very passage is taken up in <a href='B:540 6:2'>2Co 6:2</a> concerning the necessary vigour of our crying to God for salvation. That the intensity of the Lord's prayerfulness and seeking of God on the cross should be held up as our pattern::. the very height of the ideal is wondrous.</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Deliver me out of the mire, and don’t let me sink. Let me be delivered from those who hate me, and out of the deep waters-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This suggests a man at the very end of life, facing imminent death. I suggested on :1 that there is no particular time in David's life where this is recorded of him. Yet the words are so relevant to Jeremiah, who it seems reused this Psalm. Perhaps Jonah did likewise, for death in "the deep waters" applied to him. And they were exactly relevant to the Lord Jesus on the cross. These words are alluded to in <a href='B:230 18:17'>Psa 18:17</a>, where at the end of his life David reflects that he has been delivered from those who hated him (s:w:). At the time, he wept bitterly for Absalom's death; but in maturity he realized that this was in fact an answer to his prayers.</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Don’t let the flood waters overwhelm me, neither let the deep swallow me up. Don’t let the pit shut its mouth on me-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The reference may be to Ahithophel's plan to swallow up David at the time of Absalom's rebellion (<a href='B:100 17:12'>2Sa 17:12</a>; <a href='B:100 17:16'>2Sa 17:16</a> s:w:). David's prayer of <a href='B:230 35:25'>Psa 35:25</a>; <a href='B:230 69:15'>Psa 69:15</a>; <a href='B:230 124:3'>Psa 124:3</a> not to be swallowed up / destroyed was answered, but he was devastated at the answer- for it meant the death of his son Absalom. Again David has Job in mind, who had his 'brethren' arguing that he should be swallowed up / destroyed without cause (<a href='B:220 2:3'>Job 2:3</a> s:w:).</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Answer me, Yahweh, for Your grace is good. According to the multitude of Your tender mercies, turn to me-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Although earlier David has complained that he is suffering unfairly (see on :4), he again returns to his awareness that he can only be saved by grace; for he is indeed a sinner suffering the consequence of his sins. True to our own experience, we can in one breath struggle to accept consequences of sin, minimizing what we did long ago- and yet almost in the same breath, accept full responsibility for them (see on :5).</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Don’t hide Your face from Your servant, for I am in distress. Answer me speedily!<strong>- </strong></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>David feels that his suffering at the hands of Absalom and his group was because God was hiding His face. But this was not the case. He is failing to give due weight to the words of Nathan. He was to suffer these consequences for his sin, but that didn't mean God was hiding His face from him; for he was really and truly forgiven and restored before God. The exiles appear to have likewise struggled with the issue of consequence for sin. David had asked God not to hide his face from him, David personally, (<a href='B:230 27:9'>Psa 27:9</a>; <a href='B:230 69:17'>Psa 69:17</a>; <a href='B:230 102:2'>Psa 102:2</a>; <a href='B:230 143:7'>Psa 143:7</a>), but to hide His face from David’s sins (<a href='B:230 51:9'>Psa 51:9</a>). But it seems that in crisis he wondered whether he had in fact been forgiven.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Draw near to my soul, and redeem it. Ransom me because of my enemies-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>David often speaks of drawing near to God, and yet he invites God to draw near to him (<a href='B:230 69:18'>Psa 69:18</a>). Yet David also recognizes that God “is” near already (<a href='B:230 75:1'>Psa 75:1</a>). I take all this to mean that like us, David recognized that God “is” near, and yet wished God to make His presence real to him. Truly can we pray David’s prayers. So often, prayer is described as coming near to God (<a href='B:230 119:169'>Psa 119:169</a> etc:)- and yet God “is” near already. Prayer, therefore, is a way of making us realize the presence of the God who is always present. You are not alone, I am not alone; “For I am with you”. God is with us for us in His Son. Of course, we must draw near to Him (<a href='B:230 73:28'>Psa 73:28</a>); and yet He is already near, not far from every one of us (<a href='B:510 17:27'>Act 17:27</a>).</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>And yet it could be argued that God had already forgiven David, ransoming and redeeming him. But he was left to suffer the consequences of those sins, and because of that, in crisis he starts to wonder whether he has indeed been forgiven. And we can do the same so easily. The consequence of sin is death, and we can squirm against this when we or others face it::. forgetting the wonder of the fact that we are indeed redeemed and ransomed from the power of the grave, although we must still take the consequences. The exiles likewise had to understand that they had been redeemed (s:w. <a href='B:230 74:2'>Psa 74:2</a>) but were suffering the consequence of sin. God was indeed their redeemer (<a href='B:290 41:14'>Isa 41:14</a>; <a href='B:290 43:1'>Isa 43:1</a> s:w:). At the very end of his life, David realized that he had in fact been redeemed (s:w. <a href='B:110 1:29'>1Ki 1:29</a>). He could give up his spirit to God in death, knowing that He was redeemed from the power of the grave (s:w. <a href='B:230 31:5'>Psa 31:5</a>; <a href='B:230 49:15'>Psa 49:15</a>). His sure hope in the resurrection of the body looked ahead to the attitude with which the Lord Jesus died.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>You know my reproach, my shame, and my dishonour; my adversaries are all before You-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The tone of the Psalm begins to change from this point. This so often happens in the Psalms; David begins by praying desperately for help, and then within the same Psalm, becomes calmer, and ends up rejoicing. Perhaps there was some dramatic Divine revelation to him during the prayer. But rather I suggest that this is simply true to our spiritual experience in prayer; we too within the course of prayer become calmer, seeing God's hand, aware that He does know precisely all our situation, better than we do; and shall finally bring us to the great salvation of His eternal Kingdom. And thus we conclude the prayer in joy and peace before Him.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Reproach has broken my heart, and I am full of heaviness-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The Lord didn't just passively enduring the polemics of the Pharisees; they were His chicks, He really wanted them under His wings (cp. Israel dwelling under the wings of the cherubim). We must ever remember this when we read the records of Him arguing with them and exposing their hypocrisy. He wasn't just throwing back their questions, playing the game and winning, just surviving from day to day with them. He was trying to gather them, and their rejection of His words really hurt Him. Their reproach broke His heart; He didn't just brazenly endure it as we might the ravings of a drunken man (<a href='B:230 69:20'>Psa 69:20</a>):&nbsp;David here alludes to Job's experiences (see on <a href='B:220 19:12-14'>Job 19:12-14</a>).</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The shame of the cross is a theme of the records. The reproach broke the Lord's heart (<a href='B:230 69:20'>Psa 69:20</a>). It could even be that He suffered a heart rupture, a literal broken heart, some hours prior to His death- hence when His side was pierced, blood flowed out- and corpses don’t usually bleed. It has been commented that severe emotional trauma is enough to cause such a rupture. He wasn't hard and impervious to it all. He knew who He was, and where He was going. To be treated as He was, was such an insult to the God of all grace. And He keenly sensed thIsa. <a href='B:650 12:2-3'>Heb 12:2-3</a> parallels the Lord's enduring of the cross with His enduring "such contradiction of sinners against Himself".</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>It is likely that the Lord was crucified naked, thereby sharing the shame of Adam's nakedness. The shame of the cross is stressed (<a href='B:650 11:26'>Heb 11:26</a>; <a href='B:650 12:2'>Heb 12:2</a>; <a href='B:230 31:17'>Psa 31:17</a>; <a href='B:230 69:6-7'>Psa 69:6-7</a>; <a href='B:230 69:12'>Psa 69:12</a>; <a href='B:230 69:19-20'>Psa 69:19-20</a>). And we are to share those sufferings. There must, therefore, be an open standing up for what we believe in the eyes of a hostile world. Preaching, in this sense, is for all of us. And if we dodge this, we put the Son of God to a naked shame; we re-crucify Him naked, we shame Him again (<a href='B:650 6:6'>Heb 6:6</a>). He was crucified naked, and the sun went in for three hours. He must have been cold, very cold (<a href='B:500 18:18'>Joh 18:18</a>). Artemidorus Daldianus (Oneirokritika 2:53) confirms that the Romans usually crucified victims naked. Melito of Sardis, writing in the 2nd century, writes of “his body naked and not even deemed worthy of a clothing that it might not be seen. Therefore the heavenly lights turned away and the day darkened in order that he might be hidden who was denuded upon the cross" (On the Pasch 97). The earliest portrayals of the crucified Jesus, on carved gems, feature Him naked.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>I looked for some to take pity, but there was none; for comforters, but I found none-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>"But there stood by the cross::." makes the connection between Mary and the clothes. It seems that initially, she wasn't there; He looked for comforters and found none (<a href='B:230 69:20'>Psa 69:20</a> - or does this imply that the oft mentioned spiritual difference between the Lord and His mother meant that He didn't find comfort in her? Or she only came to the cross later?). His lovers, friends and kinsmen stood far off from Him (<a href='B:230 38:11'>Psa 38:11</a>), perhaps in a literal sense, perhaps far away from understanding Him. If Mary wasn't initially at the cross, John's connection between the dividing of the clothes and her being there would suggest that she had made the clothes. In any case, the four women at the cross are surely set up against the four soldiers there- who gambled over the clothes. Perhaps the other women had also had some input into the Lord’s clothing.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>They also gave me gall for my food; in my thirst, they gave me vinegar to drink-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>It is hard to find an occasion in David's life which would have been relevant to thIsa. But I suggested on :1 that the Psalm was rewritten by Jeremiah. Perhaps they passed down gall and vinegar to him in the dungeon. But the Psalm clearly refers to the Lord Jesus, supremely. The Hebrew can stand the translation ‘poison’ (see RSV). Given the extended, agitated torture of crucifixion, there was a custom for close friends to get close enough to the cross to lift up a poisonous substance which the crucified would lick, and thereby die quickly. It is just possible that a friend (or even his mother?) or a sympathetic soldier did thIsa. Again, in this case it would seem that the Lord chose the highest level; our salvation would surely have been theologically achievable if He had taken it. But He chose to attain for us not only salvation, but “such great salvation" by always taking the highest level. He became obedient not only to death, but “even the death of the cross".</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Let their table before them become a snare, may it become a retribution and a trap-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>A "table" is literally that which was spread forth, and need not refer to a piece of wood with legs. The idea is that their table, in the sense of a piece of material unrolled and spread upon the ground, was to turn into an animal trap into which they themselves would fall. The verse is quoted from the LXX in <a href='B:520 11:9'>Rom 11:9</a> and applied to the Jews who refused to accept the Lord Jesus as Messiah and king. Those who treated David likewise represented the Jews of the first century. Thus again David at this point is understood as a type of the Lord Jesus.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Let their eyes be darkened, so that they can’t see; may their backs be continually bent-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This is quoted in <a href='B:520 11:10'>Rom 11:10</a> about the Jews who rejected the kingship of the Lord Jesus, whom David typified. This darkening of Jewish hearts / eyes has been spoken of in <a href='B:520 1:21'>Rom 1:21</a> (s:w:), and I have argued on Romans 1 that 'Jews' and 'Gentiles' refer specifically to the Jewish and Gentile Christian converts within the church at Rome- rather than to Jews and Gentiles in some generic, global sense. As noted on <a href='B:520 11:10'>Rom 11:10</a>, what is in view here is the stumbling of Jewish Christian believers out of the way, leading to their being cut off from the Christ-olive tree. '"Bend the back" uses the same word as just used in <a href='B:520 11:4'>Rom 11:4</a> for those who bowed the knee to Baal. They would be confirmed in their idolatry. And perhaps the reference is to how the Christian Jews who fell away from faith would eternally bow down at the last judgment (<a href='B:730 3:9'>Rev 3:9</a>).</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Pour out Your indignation on them; let the fierceness of Your anger overtake them-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This is the language used about God's judgment upon the Gentiles (<a href='B:230 79:6'>Psa 79:6</a>; <a href='B:300 10:25'>Jer 10:25</a>). David often sees the apostate within Israel as no better than Gentiles. And yet when Absalom did die, David was heartbroken, even though it was the answer to prayers like thIsa. Being "overtaken" suggests being overtaken by military defeat, which is what happened to Absalom.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Let their habitation be desolate, may no one dwell in their tents-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>These words are quoted about Judas in <a href='B:510 1:20'>Act 1:20</a>, who is clearly typified by Ahithophel, who was a main mover in Absalom's rebellion. The condemnation of Jewry for crucifying Christ in <a href='B:230 69:25'>Psa 69:25</a> ("let their habitation be desolate") is quoted in the singular about Judas in <a href='B:510 1:20'>Act 1:20</a>. What was true of Judas was also true of Israel in general; in the same way as the pronouns used about Judas merge from singular into plural in <a href='B:230 55:13-15'>Psa 55:13-15</a> ("a man mine equal::. let death seize upon them"), as also in <a href='B:230 109:3'>Psa 109:3</a> cp. :8.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>For they persecute him whom You have wounded. They tell of the sorrow of those whom You have hurt-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The parallel between "him" and "those" reflects David's awareness that his sufferings were representative of those of God's people. This is the Spirit of the Lord Jesus on the cross, who was "wounded" for our sins on the cross (s:w. <a href='B:290 53:5'>Isa 53:5</a>; <a href='B:450 13:6'>Zec 13:6</a>), with the "wound" of the judgment for sin which was the just desert of His people (s:w. <a href='B:300 30:14'>Jer 30:14</a>; <a href='B:310 2:12'>Lam 2:12</a>):&nbsp;</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Add iniquity to their iniquity; don’t let them come into Your righteousness-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>It is a feature of God's dealings with men that He confirms the degree of spiritual success or failure which we achieve or aim for by our own freewill effort. Thus we read nine times that Pharaoh hardened his own heart; but ten times that God hardened his heart. Similarly, God adds iniquity unto the iniquity of those who willfully sin (<a href='B:230 69:27'>Psa 69:27</a>; <a href='B:730 22:18'>Rev 22:18</a>). Conversely God imputes righteousness, adding His own righteous characteristics to us, in response to our faith. This is the key idea of 'justification by faith', being counted righteous although personally we are not.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Let them be blotted out of the book of life, and not be written with the righteous-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The suggestion is that they had been in the book of life, they were part of the Israel of God, but David wishes for them to be removed from it. This wishing of condemnation upon enemies, even when they include your own son [Absalom], seems so far from the spirit of the God who takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked, and instead wishes that all men come to repentance. Desire for repentance in his enemies is rarely seen in David; we find only death wishes, and even a desire for their eternal damnation. He continues to divide his world into the sinners and "the righteous", forgetting that he was only righteous after his sins of adultery and murder because he was counted righteous. The spirit of Moses was so different, wishing himself blotted out of the book of life so that sinful Israel might enter the land (<a href='B:20 32:32'>Exo 32:32</a>).</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>But I am in pain and distress. Let Your salvation, God, protect me-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>"Protect me" is AV "set me up on high". David sees the contrast between his present lowness and the height of his ultimate exaltation. David again sees himself as following the pattern of Job (s:w. <a href='B:220 5:11'>Job 5:11</a>). This was ultimately true of the Lord Jesus in His ascent to Heaven and Divine nature. Solomon presents his father David's being 'set on high' (<a href='B:230 69:29'>Psa 69:29</a>) as programmatic for the exaltation of all the righteous; he sees David as the epitome of the righteous, and thereby justifies the Davidic dynasty (s:w. <a href='B:240 18:10'>Pro 18:10</a>; <a href='B:240 29:25'>Pro 29:25</a>).</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>I will praise the name of God with a song, and will magnify Him with thanksgiving-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Again we note the change in tone of the Psalm. As noted on :19, David begins by praying desperately for help, and then within the same Psalm, becomes calmer, and ends up rejoicing. Perhaps there was some dramatic Divine revelation to him during the prayer. But rather I suggest that this is simply true to our spiritual experience in prayer; we too within the course of prayer become calmer, seeing God's hand, aware that He does know precisely all our situation, better than we do; and shall finally bring us to the great salvation of His eternal Kingdom. And thus we conclude the prayer in joy and peace before Him.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>It will please Yahweh better than an ox, or a bull that has horns and hoofs-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>David had earlier come to realize that a broken and contrite heart was worth more to God than any animal sacrifice (<a href='B:230 51:17'>Psa 51:17</a>). Here he develops the idea to say that praising God for His grace (:30) was worth more than sacrifices; and that praise offered from a humble heart is hugely valuable to God. Hence the theme of humility continues in :32.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The humble have seen it, and are glad. You who seek after God, let your heart live-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>As noted on :31, a humble heart full of praise of grace is so valuable to God. The idea may be that the humble "see" or perceive that God wants praise of His Name rather than sacrifices; and this is what God had Himself wanted. It was this attitude of heart which would live for ever (Heb:). Although we have no immortal soul, the righteous have an immortal spirit in that who we are in our hearts now is who we shall eternally be.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>For Yahweh hears the needy, and doesn’t despise His captive people-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This has clearly been rewritten with reference to the captive exiles; see on :35. The captives were despised (s:w. <a href='B:160 2:19'>Neh 2:19</a>) as David was for his sin (s:w. <a href='B:230 22:6'>Psa 22:6</a>; <a href='B:230 22:24'>Psa 22:24</a>), and as was the Lord Jesus on the cross (s:w. <a href='B:290 53:3'>Isa 53:3</a>), but God did not despise them and would destroy that opposition. Yet perhaps it had a historical basis in David appreciating that although he had despised God in his sin with Bathsheba and Uriah (s:w. <a href='B:100 12:10'>2Sa 12:10</a>), God by grace had not despised him. Because God did not despise David's contrite and broken heart (s:w. <a href='B:230 51:17'>Psa 51:17</a>, a passage also alluded to in :31). The exiles had likewise despised God (s:w. <a href='B:330 16:59'>Eze 16:59</a>) but would not be despised by God.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Let heaven and earth praise Him; the seas, and everything that moves therein!<strong>- </strong></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>David associates the salvation of Zion with the "seas" praising God, the Gentiles beyond the "earth" / land promised to Abraham. This is the prophetic vision; of Zion's redemption being a powerful example for the Gentiles to accept Israel's God.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>For God will save Zion, and build the cities of Judah. They shall settle there, and own it-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>David saw his sufferings as being bound up with those of Israel; those who hated him hated Zion, those who blessed him blessed Zion, and God's salvation of Israel was being expressed through God's deliverance of him in the daily vicissitudes of life; as God had chosen Zion, so He had David His servant; David's joy was Zion's joy, and her exaltation would be David's&nbsp; (<a href='B:230 51:18'>Psa 51:18</a>; <a href='B:230 69:35'>Psa 69:35</a>; <a href='B:230 87:2'>Psa 87:2</a>; <a href='B:230 106:5'>Psa 106:5</a>; <a href='B:230 121:3-4'>Psa 121:3-4</a>; <a href='B:230 125:1'>Psa 125:1</a>; <a href='B:230 128:5'>Psa 128:5</a>; <a href='B:230 146:10'>Psa 146:10</a>; <a href='B:230 149:2'>Psa 149:2</a>). This is how we are to make sense of suffering- by understanding that it plays a role in the salvation of others, and is part of a wider nexus of Divine operation. We suffer so that we may be able to minister the comfort we receive to others (<a href='B:540 1:4'>2Co 1:4</a>). Job likewise came to realize that his sufferings were not so much for his personal maturing, but for the teaching and salvation of the friends.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Or we can understand this reference to Zion as an example of a Psalm of David being rewritten and reapplied, under Divine inspiration, to a later historical situation- perhaps to the restoration, when the exiles again lived in the cities of Judah. See on :33. "Own it" is the word for "Drove out" in <a href='B:230 44:2'>Psa 44:2</a>. It is the word for "inherit" in the promises that Abraham's seed would "inherit" the land (<a href='B:10 15:7-8'>Gen 15:7-8</a>; <a href='B:10 28:4'>Gen 28:4</a>). As in our experience, there is always a primary fulfilment of God's promises and eternal covenant, which was based around the promises to Abraham. This was of particular comfort to the exiles. Although God appeared not to be coming through for them at the time, they were to take comfort in the covenant with Abraham; God's hand had worked in the past and would do so again, and the land was ultimately theirs. Even if at the moment their enemies were in the ascendancy.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>For the Chief Musician. By David. A reminder-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This is a fragment from <a href='B:230 40:1-17'>Psa 40:1-17</a>, although here "Yahweh" is used instead of "elohim". And the final verse changes <a href='B:230 40:17'>Psa 40:17</a> "Yet the Lord thinks upon me" to an appeal for urgent help. It could be that David recalls his earlier successful prayer for urgent help in a situation and repeats it, although without the praise for an answer, which has not yet been received. Perhaps this is the sense of the Psalm title "a reminder", to act as God had done previously. Psalms 40 is an appeal for help with the consequences of the sin with Bathsheba, and maybe Psalms 70 was related to facing another such consequence.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Hurry, God, to deliver me. Come quickly to help me, Yahweh-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>David repeatedly asks God to "hurry to help me" (<a href='B:230 22:19'>Psa 22:19</a>; <a href='B:230 38:22'>Psa 38:22</a>; <a href='B:230 40:13'>Psa 40:13</a>; <a href='B:230 70:1'>Psa 70:1</a>; <a href='B:230 70:5'>Psa 70:5</a>; <a href='B:230 141:1'>Psa 141:1</a>). But David had hurried (s:w:) to be obedient to God, always wanting to 'say yes straight away' (<a href='B:230 119:60'>Psa 119:60</a>). Our response to God's voice is therefore related to His response to our voice; if His words abide in us, then we experience positive experience in answered prayer (<a href='B:500 15:7'>Joh 15:7</a>). </p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Let them be disappointed and confounded who seek my soul. Let those who desire my ruin be turned back in disgrace-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Saul sought&nbsp; to take David's life. So many of the Psalms contain imprecations against those who were seeking David's soul- not just his physical life, but seeking to destroy his very being (e:g. <a href='B:230 35:4'>Psa 35:4</a>; <a href='B:230 40:14'>Psa 40:14</a>; <a href='B:230 54:1'>Psa 54:1</a>; <a href='B:230 63:9'>Psa 63:9</a>; <a href='B:230 70:2'>Psa 70:2</a>; <a href='B:230 71:13'>Psa 71:13</a>). These imprecations expose the evil of Saul, and asks God to condemn him. Some of those Psalms appear to have been written by David in the Saul days, and then rewritten at the time of Absalom's rebellion- another man who sought David's soul, and yet whom David loved:&nbsp;These words perhaps originated in the wilderness Psalm of <a href='B:230 35:4'>Psa 35:4</a>. But David repeats them here, in this Psalm which appears to reference to David's sin with Bathsheba, which provoked the plotting against David's life referred to here. And yet we wonder as to how David could so bitterly wish the destruction of his opponents, when he himself had been saved by grace.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Let them be turned back because of their shame who say, Aha! Aha!<strong>- </strong></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>David's repeated desire to see the condemnation of those who were judging him seems inappropriate for a man saved by grace; for they were the vehicles for receiving the consequences of his sins.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Let all those who seek You rejoice and be glad in You. Let those who love Your salvation continually say, Let God be exalted!<strong>- </strong></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Again we query why and how David continues to see people in such black and white terms, divided between the righteous and unrighteous, when he himself had been revealed as a righteous man who had sinned seriously.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The faithful are described as "those that seek (God)::. such as love Your salvation". But truly seeks God (<a href='B:520 3:11'>Rom 3:11</a> - the context concerns all of us, believers and unbelievers); and yet we are those who seek Him. We must be ambitious to do the impossible. Those who truly love righteousness and the Kingdom will be rewarded with it. Likewise Paul in <a href='B:530 8:2-3'>1Co 8:2-3</a> describes the faithful man as one who accepts he knows nothing as he ought to know, but truly loves God. <a href='B:650 9:28'>Heb 9:28</a> is clear: "Unto them that look for (Christ) shall He appear the second time::. unto salvation". Those who truly look for Christ will be given salvation.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>David responded to their seeking of him by seeking God more. He uses the language of the hunt and chase to describe how he was drawing closer to God: "My soul followeth hard after thee" (<a href='B:230 63:8'>Psa 63:8</a>; Psalms 63 is a wilderness psalm, see title). “Let them be ashamed and confounded that seek after my soul::. let all those that seek thee rejoice" (<a href='B:230 40:14'>Psa 40:14</a>; <a href='B:230 40:16'>Psa 40:16</a>). In this sense, David felt he wasn't fleeing from his enemies as much as fleeing to God: "Deliver me, O Lord, from mine enemies (from whom he was running): I flee unto thee to hide me" (<a href='B:230 143:9'>Psa 143:9</a>). This fleeing to God didn't mean that David and Jesus didn't respond or retaliate verbally; both of them, especially the Lord Jesus, did. They both pleaded their innocence, and accused their enemies of being unfair and hypocritical. Yet this must have been done from a genuine motive of love; as David loved Saul, as the thought of Saul's death must have torn at his heart, so the Lord Jesus loved Israel, weeping over Jerusalem, wishing to himself like a child for the impossible: that they would know him as their Saviour. Both David and Jesus had a real sense of direction, they could see that their mental, emotional and physical sufferings were leading them towards an altogether higher relationship with the Father. They took those sufferings as an almost welcome push towards the Father. They had a sure sense of spiritual direction in all their afflictions; this accounts for the human loneliness which they both felt.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>In You, Yahweh, I take refuge. Never let me be disappointed-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Typical of men of his time, David seems to fear shame [s:w. "disappointed"] more than death itself. Defeat meant shame, and he desperately begged not to be shamed. Perhaps it was the function of his failure with Bathsheba to help him redefine the motives for his trust in God. This Psalm repeats language from Psalms 22, 31, 35, 40 - which were all in the context of his sin with Bathsheba. It seems that this Psalms 71 is his plea for help as he continues to face the consequences of that sin even in his old age.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The idea is that God was David's city of refuge. These cities were for those who needed to flee when being chased by the avenger of blood (<a href='B:40 35:26'>Num 35:26</a>). The imagery is very appropriate to David when fleeing from Saul and Absalom. David's constant meditation upon God's law would have included the sections about the cities of refuge; he realized that actually no such city was available for him, but the spirit of the law led him to reflect that Yahweh was his refuge, wherever he was. David tends to open wilderness Psalms with this reflection, just as we may tend to begin prayers with the same opening phrase and thoughts (<a href='B:230 7:1'>Psa 7:1</a>; <a href='B:230 11:1'>Psa 11:1</a>; <a href='B:230 16:1'>Psa 16:1</a>; <a href='B:230 31:1'>Psa 31:1</a>; <a href='B:230 57:1'>Psa 57:1</a>; <a href='B:230 71:1'>Psa 71:1</a>). But here he now reuses this lesson learned in the context of Absalom's rebellion.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>A case can be made that the whole of book 3 of the Psalter (Psalms 73-89) was written / edited in Babylon. The Psalms of Korah (83-87) seem to reflect the longing of the righteous remnant in Babylon for the temple services. And it is just possible that the entire Psalter was re-edited there in Babylon, under inspiration- for so many Psalms have elements of appropriacy to the exiles in Babylon and the restoration. The LXX titles of Psalms 56 [“Concerning the people that were removed from the Sanctuary”] and 71 [“Of the sons of Jonadab, and the first that were taken captive”] speak for themselves. Likewise the LXX attributes Psalms 146-148 to Haggai and Zechariah. David's experience of grace and appeal for salvation by grace was therefore intended to be programmatic for the exiles in Babylon.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Deliver me in Your righteousness and rescue me. Turn Your ear to me and save me-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>David appealed to God's righteousness for deliverance from the consequence of his sins (<a href='B:230 71:2'>Psa 71:2</a>). This was appropriate, seeing that David had been saved from death by God's imputation of His righteousness to David (<a href='B:230 32:1-4'>Psa 32:1-4</a>), by grace through faith; seeing David's sins left him with no righteousness of his own. And it was on this basis that David believed he would continue to be saved / delivered / rescued (s:w. <a href='B:230 51:14'>Psa 51:14</a> in the Bathsheba context). But Solomon failed to learn from his mother and father's experience of grace, teaching instead that personal righteousness is what saves (<a href='B:240 10:2'>Pro 10:2</a>; <a href='B:240 11:4'>Pro 11:4</a>; <a href='B:240 11:6'>Pro 11:6</a>).</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Be to me a rock of refuge to which I may always go-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>David had often used this image in the wilderness Psalms. But he asks that God will continue to be his refuge, now that in later life he faced another crisIsa. This is the force of "always", throughout his life.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Give the command to save me, for You are my rock and my fortress-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>David envisages a Divine command being issued in the court of Heaven, and then this being operationalized on earth (presumably by the Angels).</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Rescue me, my God, from the hand of the wicked, from the hand of the unrighteous and cruel man-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This may have originated in his thoughts about Saul, but the context is now of salvation from Absalom and Ahithophel, and as noted on :1, it becomes the intended appeal of the exiles for deliverance from Babylon, then Haman, and indeed from all their captors. "The hand of the wicked / unrighteous" is the term used for the Babylonians in <a href='B:330 7:21'>Eze 7:21</a>.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>For You are my hope, Lord Yahweh; my confidence from my youth-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>As noted on :3, David is asking that God will continue to be his refuge as he was when on the run from Saul, now that in later life he faced another crisIsa. This is the force of "always" in :3, throughout his life. We note that the Hebrew idea of "hope" is not 'a hope for the best', but rather an absolute confidence; hence "hope" and "confidence" are here paralleled. The "hope of Israel" is the utter certain confidence of Israel. The same idea is implicit in the Greek word elpIsa.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>I have relied on You from the womb. You are He who took me out of my mother’s womb-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>David here likens God to a midwife, who gently eased and took him from his mother's womb. This usage of female imagery about God was unusual for the time, indeed quite a paradigm breaker, and reflects David's relatively high view of women- compared at least to contemporary attitudes. If David was the youngest of many sons, his mother may well have had difficulties in his birth, and so his very survival was perhaps seen by him as a reflection of grace.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>I will always praise You-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The force of "always" in :3 is as here; David will praise God on his harp as he did in the wilderness years in exile from Saul, right to the end of his days.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>I am a marvel to many, but You are my strong refuge-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>"Marvel" is the usual word for "miracle". David may mean that "many" considered his survival to be miraculous, but he attributes that to God as being his "strong refuge". But the word can occasionally mean a man of sign or symbol to others (s:w. <a href='B:330 12:6'>Eze 12:6</a>; <a href='B:330 12:11'>Eze 12:11</a>). In this case, David would be again aware (as he often is) that his life and experience of Divine grace was representative of that of all God's true people.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>My mouth shall be filled with Your praise, with Your honour all the day-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Despite fears for his immediate future (:9), David's vision is of himself in the Kingdom, eternally praising God for His saving grace. This is the perspective we must have before us.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Don’t reject me in my old age. Don’t forsake me when my strength fails-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>David frequently expresses his aloneness, and the comfort He therefore finds in God. But this had to grow over time. His fears were those of the exiles (see on :1). &nbsp; <a href='B:290 46:4'>Isa 46:4</a> seems almost to be in answer to David’s fear, and is addressed to the exiles: “Even to old age I am he, and even to grey hairs will I carry you: I have made, and I will bear; yea, I will carry, and will deliver”.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>For my enemies talk about me, they who watch for my soul conspire together-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>"Conspire" is s:w. "counsel", the word used of Ahithophel, David's counsellor who was Bathsheba's grandfather, who later betrayed him and turned against him (<a href='B:100 15:12'>2Sa 15:12</a>; <a href='B:100 16:23'>2Sa 16:23</a>). Perhaps David is commenting upon Ahithophel's counsel to Absalom which was designed to destroy him. See on <a href='B:230 32:8'>Psa 32:8</a>.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>saying, God has forsaken him. Pursue and take him, for no one will rescue him-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>It was at this time that David felt God had forsaken him (<a href='B:230 22:1'>Psa 22:1</a>). But He had not, ultimately. So we have here an example of false guilt being placed upon a man even of David's faith and spirituality. We must take guilt for sins we have done. This is the true guilt. But the world is full of those who place false guilt upon others, and we can too easily absorb it. And yet I suppose it is impossible, at least by any intellectual process, to precisely divide false guilt from true guilt. We can take comfort that the Lord Jesus was our guilt offering, for all our guilt, of whatever kind. We note that they pursued David because they thought God had forsaken him and would not therefore judge them.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>God, don’t be far from me. My God, hurry to help me-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The plea for God not to "be far from me" is common (<a href='B:230 22:11'>Psa 22:11</a>; <a href='B:230 22:19'>Psa 22:19</a>; <a href='B:230 35:22'>Psa 35:22</a>; <a href='B:230 38:21'>Psa 38:21</a>; <a href='B:230 71:12'>Psa 71:12</a>). The emphasis perhaps is to be placed upon David not wanting God to be far from him, seeing that he felt others were 'far' from him (s:w. <a href='B:230 88:8'>Psa 88:8</a>; <a href='B:230 88:18'>Psa 88:18</a>). He accepted his social and psychological isolation from others, but he didn't want God to be likewise far off from him. In the context of the exiles, God was willing to not be 'far off' from the exiles if they repented (<a href='B:290 46:13'>Isa 46:13</a>).</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Let my accusers be disappointed and consumed-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>David's desire was heard in that the sword and the forest devoured or consumed Absalom and his forces (<a href='B:100 18:8'>2Sa 18:8</a>). But when the prayer was answered, David wept bitterly for the loss of Absalom. We are thereby warned to be careful what we pray for, lest we receive it- which in some form we will.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Let them be covered with disgrace and scorn who want to harm me-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Saul sought&nbsp;or 'wanted' to take David's life. So many of the Psalms contain imprecations against those who were seeking David's soul- not just his physical life, but seeking to destroy his very being (e:g. <a href='B:230 35:4'>Psa 35:4</a>; <a href='B:230 40:14'>Psa 40:14</a>; <a href='B:230 54:1'>Psa 54:1</a>; <a href='B:230 63:9'>Psa 63:9</a>; <a href='B:230 70:2'>Psa 70:2</a>; <a href='B:230 71:13'>Psa 71:13</a>). These imprecations expose the evil of Saul, and asks God to condemn him. Some of those Psalms appear to have been written by David in the Saul days, and then rewritten at the time of Absalom's rebellion- another man who sought David's soul, and yet whom David loved:&nbsp;</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>But I will always hope, and will add to all of Your praise-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The tone of the Psalm begins to change from this point. This so often happens in the Psalms; David begins by praying desperately for help, and then within the same Psalm, becomes calmer, and ends up rejoicing. Perhaps there was some dramatic Divine revelation to him during the prayer. But rather I suggest that this is simply true to our spiritual experience in prayer; we too within the course of prayer become calmer, seeing God's hand, aware that He does know precisely all our situation, better than we do; and shall finally bring us to the great salvation of His eternal Kingdom. And thus we conclude the prayer in joy and peace before Him.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>My mouth will tell others about Your righteousness and Your salvation all day, though I don’t know its full measure-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>David had vowed the same at the time of his forgiveness for the sin with Bathsheba. Now he promises it again, if God delivers him from the consequence of that sin. We note that he vows to tell others that which he admits he cannot fully fathom. Full intellectual grasp of the message of grace is not possible nor required to be able to share it with others.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>I will declare the mighty acts of the Lord Yahweh. I will make mention of Your righteousness, even of Yours alone-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>David appealed to God's righteousness for deliverance from the consequence of his sins (<a href='B:230 71:2'>Psa 71:2</a>). This was appropriate, seeing that David had been saved from death by God's imputation of His righteousness to David (<a href='B:230 32:1-4'>Psa 32:1-4</a>), by grace through faith; seeing David's sins left him with no righteousness of his own. And it was on this basis that David believed he would continue to be saved / delivered / rescued (s:w. <a href='B:230 51:14'>Psa 51:14</a> in the Bathsheba context). This salvation by grace of a condemned sinner was and is "the might acts of Yahweh", as dramatic as what He did at the Red Sea or in any visible miracle.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>God, You have taught me from my youth. Up until now I have declared Your wondrous works-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>As noted on :3, David could look back and perceive the continuous action of God in his life, and despite his sin with Bathsheba, he rightly perceived that he had made a continuous positive response to His hand. From his youth, David had asked to be taught God's way (<a href='B:230 119:7'>Psa 119:7</a>; <a href='B:230 119:12'>Psa 119:12</a>; <a href='B:230 119:26'>Psa 119:26</a>; <a href='B:230 119:64'>Psa 119:64</a>; <a href='B:230 119:66'>Psa 119:66</a>; <a href='B:230 119:68'>Psa 119:68</a>; <a href='B:230 119:73'>Psa 119:73</a>; <a href='B:230 119:108'>Psa 119:108</a>; <a href='B:230 119:124'>Psa 119:124</a>; <a href='B:230 119:135'>Psa 119:135</a>), and at the end of his life David recognized that indeed God had "taught me from my youth" (s:w. <a href='B:230 71:17'>Psa 71:17</a>). In secular life, teaching is something experienced in youth, and then life is spent practicing what was learned. But in spiritual life, David perceived that the God who had taught him from his youth was continuing to teach him (<a href='B:230 71:17'>Psa 71:17</a>). This is part of the "newness of life" experienced in Christ, the ever fresh spring water that we drink.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Yes, even when I am old and gray-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>haired, God, don’t forsake me, until I have declared Your strength to the next generation, Your might to everyone who is to come-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This seems to mean that David is writing this when he is old. I discussed on :11 how David was picking up and absorbing the attitude of his critics that God had forsaken him- when God hadn't. He wishes to stay alive so that he might spread the knowledge of God's grace to the next generation (:15,16). His entire purpose of living was in order to evangelize God's grace; and that should be why we wish to stay alive. God's might and strength, as discussed on :16, are revealed in His gracious forgiveness and salvation of condemned sinners.</p>&nbsp;<p style='margin-left:1:415em'>One would have thought that after the Bathsheba incident, David would have kept his mouth shut so far as telling other people how to live was concerned. But instead, we find an increasing emphasis in the Psalms (chronologically) upon David's desire to teach others of God's ways- particularly the surrounding Gentile peoples, before whom David had been disgraced over Bathsheba, not to mention from his two faced allegiance to Achish (<a href='B:90 27:8-12'>1Sa 27:8-12</a>). There is real stress upon this evangelistic fervour of David (<a href='B:230 4:3'>Psa 4:3</a>; <a href='B:230 18:49'>Psa 18:49</a>; <a href='B:230 22:25'>Psa 22:25</a>; <a href='B:230 22:31'>Psa 22:31</a>; <a href='B:230 35:18'>Psa 35:18</a>; <a href='B:230 40:9-10'>Psa 40:9-10</a>; <a href='B:230 57:9'>Psa 57:9</a>; <a href='B:230 62:8'>Psa 62:8</a>; <a href='B:230 66:5'>Psa 66:5</a>; <a href='B:230 66:16'>Psa 66:16</a>; <a href='B:230 95:1'>Psa 95:1</a>; <a href='B:230 95:8'>Psa 95:8</a>; <a href='B:230 96:5-8'>Psa 96:5-8</a>; <a href='B:230 96:10'>Psa 96:10</a>; <a href='B:230 100:1-4'>Psa 100:1-4</a>; <a href='B:230 105:1-2'>Psa 105:1-2</a>; <a href='B:230 119:27'>Psa 119:27</a>; <a href='B:230 145:5-6'>Psa 145:5-6</a>; <a href='B:230 145:12'>Psa 145:12</a>). Indeed, <a href='B:230 71:18'>Psa 71:18</a> records the "old and greyheaded" David pleading with God not to die until he had taught "thy strength unto this generation". As with Paul years later, the only reason he wanted to stay alive was in order to witness the Gospel of grace to others. David&nbsp;therefore coped with his deep inner traumas by looking out of himself to those around him, eagerly desiring to share with them the pureness of God's grace. He didn't do this as some kind of self-help psychiatry; it came naturally from a realization of his own sinfulness and God's mercy, and the wonderful willingness&nbsp;of God to extend this to men.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Your righteousness also, God, reaches to the heavens; You have done great things. God, who is like You?<strong>- </strong></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>As discussed on :16, the "great things" performed by God were His forgiveness and salvation of a condemned sinner like David. He did this by His righteousness, by imputing it to sinners; and David was the parade example of this (<a href='B:230 32:1-4'>Psa 32:1-4</a>). This is described in <a href='B:230 71:19'>Psa 71:19</a> as God doing "great things", the phrase used of the great things worked in visible miracles in Egypt (<a href='B:230 106:21'>Psa 106:21</a>) and at creation (<a href='B:230 136:7'>Psa 136:7</a>). But the forgiveness of people like David is no less a great miracle. Such great things are done because of His mercy / grace (<a href='B:230 136:4'>Psa 136:4</a>).</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>You, who have shown us many and bitter troubles, You will let me live. You will bring us up again from the depths of the earth-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The confusion between "me" and "us" is intentional, because as noted on :1, these personal experiences of David are being reapplied to the exiles, and ultimately to the entire community of God's people. We too can therefore personalize the Psalms as we read them. "Troubles" is the word used of Jacob's time of trouble (<a href='B:10 35:3'>Gen 35:3</a>; <a href='B:300 30:7'>Jer 30:7</a>; <a href='B:340 12:1'>Dan 12:1</a>). David's experience of trouble was representative of how the exiles and all God's people could ultimately follow the path of Jacob to deliverance out of exile and from his strong enemies. But in <a href='B:230 71:20'>Psa 71:20</a> David sees his deliverance from the day of trouble as ultimately being in the resurrection of the body, being 'brought up again from the depths of the earth'. We note David doesn't speak of coming down from heaven, but of resurrection out of the earth and only then, at that point, being allowed to live [eternally].</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>increase my honour, and comfort me again-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This is in the context of the clear statement of faith in the resurrection of the body in :20. David was perhaps concluding that Nathan was right after all about the consequences of his sin with Bathsheba. He would not be honoured nor comforted in this life as he wished, but only at the last day.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>I will praise You with the harp for Your faithfulness, my God. I sing praise to You with the lyre, Holy One of Israel-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The context of :20,21 appears to speak of David's position after the resurrection he looked forward to. He imagines himself continuing to praise God on the harp as he had done in this life. Whether that shall literally happen is a question and interest only for literalists. But the idea is established- that the essence of how we have served God in this life is how we shall eternally serve Him. Hence the Lord Jesus can invite us to live "the eternal life" right now; in that we can live the kind of life we shall eternally live in God's Kingdom.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>My lips shall shout for joy! My soul, which You have redeemed, sings praises to You!<strong>- </strong></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The context is of the resurrection from the dead (:20,21), when David shall finally be "redeemed". It seems he had looked in vain for redemption from the consequences of his sin with Bathsheba, and concludes that his house / kingdom / family in this life "is not so with God" (<a href='B:100 23:5'>2Sa 23:5</a>). And so he focuses himself here upon his final redemption in the last day at the resurrection (:20).</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>A Psalm for Solomon -</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>David's hopes and expectations for Solomon are expressed in Psalms 72, "A Psalm for Solomon". The Hebrew title can equally mean "A Psalm of Solomon". David was so certain that his expectations would be fulfilled. David's prediction that Solomon would wisely judge his people (<a href='B:230 72:2'>Psa 72:2</a>) was perhaps why Solomon asked God to give him wisdom to judge God's people. His wise judgment of the prostitutes, and his willingness to consider such cases, was surely a living out of David's expectation that he would deliver the poor, needy and those with no helper (<a href='B:230 72:12'>Psa 72:12</a>). The prediction that Solomon would be given of the gold of Sheba (<a href='B:230 72:15'>Psa 72:15</a>) was fulfilled by Solomon's willful trading with Sheba to get gold from there, and one wonders whether he in fact invited the Queen of Sheba to visit him in order to fulfil the prediction that the rulers of Sheba would come to him with gifts (<a href='B:230 72:10'>Psa 72:10</a>).</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>God would only have a permanent physical house when His people were permanently settled, never to be moved again (<a href='B:100 7:10'>2Sa 7:10</a>), i:e. in the Kingdom. Yet Solomon perceived that his kingdom was in fact the final Kingdom of God. David made this mistake, in assuming in Psalms 72 that Solomon’s Kingdom would undoubtedly be the Messianic one</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'> and Solomon repeated the error, yet to a more tragic extent.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Solomon abused his people and turned away from God (<a href='B:110 12:14'>1Ki 12:14</a>). David's vision of his son as the Messianic ruler didn't come about. But these words were inspired, and they will come true- through reapplication to the Lord Jesus, his greater son. David had many sons, but clearly Solomon was the favourite, the love child, effectively, of David's relationship with Bathsheba, the married woman he had become besotted with. It was this favouritism which no doubt provoked Absalom and his other sons to make the rebellions they did, no doubt deeply irked by prophecies like this in Psalms 72, which served the same function as Jacob's giving the priestly coat to Joseph. And it led Solomon to ultimate spiritual failure, because he came to assume that he would automatically fulfil the promises to David about a Messianic son. And so he came to consider himself spiritually inviolate, and came to live a life of debauchery rather than spirituality. David of course claimed that God had chosen Solomon out of all his sons (<a href='B:130 28:5'>1Ch 28:5</a>), but there is no record of that happening; rather do we suspect that David came to imagine that his own choice was in fact God's. Psalms 72 was David's declaration that he believed Solomon would be the Messianic ruler; but that was proven wrong, because Solomon did not reign with justice and turned away from Yahweh. The words will come true in the person of the Lord Jesus, but David was wrong to insist they must apply to Solomon.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>God, give the king Your justice; Your righteousness to the royal son-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The idea of a gift of righteousness had been learned by David after his sin with Bathsheba (<a href='B:230 32:1-4'>Psa 32:1-4</a>)- when he had no righteousness of his own. But righteousness was imputed by grace through faith, and Solomon knew little of grace and faith. The Proverbs, true as they are so far as they go, reveal a self-congratulatory, works-based spirit which has little to say about grace. </p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>He will judge Your people with righteousness, and Your poor with justice-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Solomon ultimately failed to do this, whipping the people and abusing them to complete his endless, obsessive building projects. The prophecy had possibility of later fulfilment in Zerubbabel, but that too didn't come about; and so it was reapplied finally to the Kingdom of the Lord Jesus.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The majestic prophecy of <a href='B:300 23:5-7'>Jer 23:5-7</a> had prophesied that when Israel returned from Babylon, “the branch” would rise and save them “and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth”, i:e. establish the Messianic Kingdom (cp. <a href='B:230 72:2'>Psa 72:2</a>; <a href='B:290 9:7'>Isa 9:7</a>). But Zerubbabel, the “branch-from-Babylon”, lead the people back from Babylon, half heartedly built a temple- which faithful men wept at, when they saw how feeble it was compared to that which should have been (<a href='B:150 3:12'>Ezr 3:12</a>). And then he beat it back to Babylon.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>David so often parallels righteousness and justice / truth (<a href='B:230 9:8'>Psa 9:8</a>; <a href='B:230 33:5'>Psa 33:5</a>; <a href='B:230 37:6'>Psa 37:6</a>; <a href='B:230 72:2'>Psa 72:2</a>; <a href='B:230 94:15'>Psa 94:15</a>; <a href='B:230 99:7'>Psa 99:7</a>; <a href='B:230 103:6'>Psa 103:6</a>; <a href='B:230 106:3'>Psa 106:3</a>). Indeed, this parallel is so common in God's word. What it means is that the righteousness of God is a just righteousness. It's not fake, 'I'll turn a blind eye'. It is true, real, valid, and has integrity underpinned in the very essential justice of God Himself. Justice and righteousness may appear abstract ideas, mere theology. But the result is that the person who believes God's righteousness is imputed to him or her::. will feel this, they will know it to be true, they can by grace, in faith, quietly hold their head up before God. And David after Bathsheba is our example. He believed and felt this imputed righteousness. It's not so much a case of 'forgiving ourselves' after God has forgiven us, but rather of being swamped by this very real and legitimate sense that truly, we have been counted righteous. And Paul in Romans holds up David after Bathsheba as the personal example to " every one who is Godly" in their time of spiritual need. See on <a href='B:230 41:12'>Psa 41:12</a>.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The mountains shall bring prosperity to the people, the hills will bring the fruit of righteousness-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This is better translated to the effect that the mountains [an intensive plural for the one great mountain, Zion] would bring peace to the little hills. The vision was of the surrounding nations, the hills, being brought to peace with God through the function of the sanctuary in Zion which David planned for Solomon to build. But Solomon intermarried with the surrounding peoples, and was influenced by them to idolatry rather than bringing them to Israel's God.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>He will judge the poor of the people, he will save the children of the needy and will break the oppressor in pieces-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The RV says that Psalms 72 is a Psalm of Solomon- in which case we have David or Solomon asking God to give him the throne, in return for which he would establish the Messianic Kingdom. His judging of the poor harlots would therefore have been in conscious fulfilment of the predictions he himself had made as to what his Messianic Kingdom would be like- as a time when the poor would be judged by him (<a href='B:230 72:4'>Psa 72:4</a>; <a href='B:230 72:13'>Psa 72:13</a>). He came to articulate God’s Kingdom in terms of how he wanted his Kingdom to be. It could be truly said that there is an urgent need for us to be convicted - deeply convicted - of our desperate need for the person of Jesus, His second coming and Messianic Kingdom:&nbsp;&nbsp;Solomon was so obsessed with himself, so inward-looking, so sure of his spiritual pedigree, so sure of the intellectual correctness of his spiritual knowledge that his need for salvation didn't enter his heart:&nbsp;&nbsp; Because he never publicly sinned (unlike David) he lacked the awareness of his own sinfulness which would have helped him realize he was only a primary fulfilment of the Davidic promises:&nbsp;&nbsp; Lack of&nbsp; awareness of our own sinfulness is connected with a lack of true enthusiasm for the Messianic Kingdom:&nbsp;&nbsp; Because he thought the kingdom was with him, Solomon evidently failed to discern the chronic need of his own nature, both physically and morally:&nbsp; &nbsp;</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>They shall fear You while the sun endures; and as long as the moon, throughout all generations-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>David imagined Solomon's kingdom morphing into the eternal Messianic kingdom. This was parental obsession, overlooking the fact that all men sin and must die, and are saved from the grave only by grace through faith.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>He will come down like rain on the mown grass, as showers that water the earth-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>In <a href='B:240 19:12'>Pro 19:12</a> Solomon speaks as if his own wisdom was like the dew coming down- as if he felt that the mere possession of wisdom made him the Messiah figure which his father had so hoped for him to be in <a href='B:230 72:6'>Psa 72:6</a>. And he says as much in <a href='B:240 29:3'>Pro 29:3</a>: “Whoso loveth wisdom [exactly what Solomon was commended for doing] rejoiceth his father”. He saw his wisdom and knowledge as some sort of a reward in themselves: “the prudent are crowned with knowledge” (<a href='B:240 14:18'>Pro 14:18</a>). This is of course true in a sense, as all the Proverbs are. But Solomon surely had the idea that he, who was so renowned for his knowledge, was somehow thereby rewarded by having it. This assumption by Solomon was likely behind each of the many references he makes to the value of wisdom and the blessedness of the man who has it. It is rather like feeling that ‘we have the truth’ because somehow our correct understanding of doctrines is a reward for our righteousness, and mere possession of doctrinal truth means that we are acceptable to God. &nbsp;</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Micah’s description of how “the remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many people as a dew from the Lord, as the showers upon the grass” (<a href='B:400 5:7'>Mic 5:7</a>) is consciously alluding to the then-famous Messianic prophecy of <a href='B:230 72:6'>Psa 72:6</a>: “He shall come down like rain upon the mown grass: as showers that water the earth”. The blessings Messiah brings are to be articulated through the witness of those in Him.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>In his days, the righteous shall flourish-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Solomon's later statement that the righteous would flourish is therefore a reference to this (<a href='B:240 11:28'>Pro 11:28</a>), assuming that David's fantasy of Solomon having an eternal kingdom was going to be fulfilled in him. In <a href='B:230 92:11-12'>Psa 92:11-12</a>, David thinks that he himself will see the righteous flourishing (s:w. <a href='B:230 72:7'>Psa 72:7</a>). So he may be imagining that he would somehow be resurrected and see this happening in Solomon's reign. His hope will come ultimately true, but through the kingdom of the Lord Jesus and not Solomon.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>And abundance of peace-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This had been David's vision of the future Kingdom of God (s:w. <a href='B:230 37:11'>Psa 37:11</a>), but he assumes and wishes that Solomon's kingdom would have become that.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Until the moon is no more-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'> As discussed on :5, David liked to imagine that Solomon's kingdom would be eternal.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, from the River to the ends of the land-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Solomon was intended by David to fulfil the promises to Abraham; for Israel had never fully inherited the land area promised to him. This was David’s prayer for Solomon; that he should have been the Messiah, and his Kingdom should have been Messiah’s. <a href='B:130 28:6-7'>1Ch 28:6-7</a> definitely seems to imply that Solomon could have lived for ever had he been obedient: “I will establish his kingdom for ever, if he be constant to do my commandments”. But&nbsp; Solomon failed, what was potentially possible didn’t come true, due to his apostasy. But these words are alluded to in <a href='B:450 8:5'>Zec 8:5</a>, as if to say that now, again, it could come true through the work of Joshua and Zerubbabel, and the priesthood and people being obedient to the temple prophecies of Ezekiel. If they wanted the Kingdom to come, then they had to live the Kingdom life:&nbsp;The coming King (and Joshua was prophesied as a king) was to free Judah from Persia’s dominion, and establish God’s Kingdom, with boys and girls playing in the streets of Jerusalem (<a href='B:450 8:5'>Zec 8:5</a>). “From sea even to sea” is a conscious quote of this famous Messianic prophecy of <a href='B:230 72:8'>Psa 72:8</a>.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>David had prophesied that his great son would "have dominion from sea to sea" (<a href='B:230 72:8'>Psa 72:8</a>). 'Have dominion' is the Hebrew word translated 'rule over' in <a href='B:110 5:15'>1Ki 5:15</a>. David's vision of his Messianic son having a world-wide Kingdom, in which all people blessed him for his grace and beneficence, was abused by Solomon into justifying 'having dominion' over people as his personal slaves; and they certainly didn't bless him for it but rather complained (<a href='B:110 12:11'>1Ki 12:11</a>). It's as if Solomon grabbed the word 'rule over / have dominion', wrenched it out of context, and used it to justify his actions, giving a quasi-Biblical justification to his pure selfishness. This is where knowledge of God's word can be a dangerous thing; leading people into a stronger self-justification than they would otherwise have had if they were guided by self-recognized greed alone.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Those who dwell in the wilderness shall bow before him; his enemies shall lick the dust-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>We must read :9-11 in the context of David's vision of Solomon ruling over the entire eretz promised to Abraham (:8). The references to the Bedouins of the desert, the kings of Tarshish and Sheba (:10), therefore refer to the nations on the boundaries of that territory. The idea is that Solomon was to rule over the entire eretz- and even beyond, even over the peoples just over the borders of it.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The kings of Tarshish and of the islands will bring tribute, the kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>See on :9. These were the areas on the edge of the eretz promised to Abraham, and indeed the queen of Sheba did come to Solomon with gifts. We note that "Tarshish" here doesn't refer to the United Kingdom. The earth was understood as the territory promised to Abraham, and anything beyond it is spoken of as the sea or islands.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Yes, all kings shall fall down before him, all nations shall serve him-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This homage and the gifts of :10 were not to be because these nations have been forced into submission, as was usually the case in kingdom building at that time. They fall before him with their gifts because ["for"] of his justice (:12,15). The queen of Sheba brought her gifts from respect (:10), not because she was forced to. And so it is and shall ever be in the extension of God's Kingdom upon earth:&nbsp;</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>For he will deliver the needy when he cries; the poor, who has no helper-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>As noted on :11, the astounding justice and loving care of the king of the kingdom would bring other nations to willingly submit and offer gifts (:10,11); not as signs that they had been forced into submission by military prowess. All visions of the Lord Jesus at His return forcing nations to accept Him at the point of a sword::. are out of step with all we have seen and known of Him, as well as of these prophecies. These words were not fulfilled in Solomon as David confidently expected; Solomon whipped the people rather than delivering the needy who cried for help. And his throne hardly endured as long as the sun.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>He will have pity on the poor and needy, he will save the needy persons-</p>&nbsp;<p style='margin-left:1:415em'>See on :4. Pity on the surrounding Gentiles is the language of <a href='B:390 4:11'>Jon 4:11</a> about Nineveh. The old covenant required that Israel show no pity to the nations of the eretz promised to Abraham, lest they lead the people into idolatry (s:w. <a href='B:50 7:16'>Deu 7:16</a>). David, as so often, is looking beyond this to a new situation whereby Israel's king would show them pity, if like Nineveh they were repentant. But Solomon mixed with those nations and accepted their idols. David had seen himself as "poor and needy", needing grace after his sin with Bathsheba and its consequences (<a href='B:230 40:17'>Psa 40:17</a>; <a href='B:230 70:5'>Psa 70:5</a>; <a href='B:230 86:1'>Psa 86:1</a>; <a href='B:230 109:16'>Psa 109:16</a>; <a href='B:230 109:22'>Psa 109:22</a>). He wished Solomon to likewise have pity on the "poor and needy" amongst the Gentiles, those who had likewise repented (<a href='B:230 72:13'>Psa 72:13</a>). And David was especially desirous to himself see the "poor and needy" blessed and accepted as he had been (<a href='B:230 82:3-4'>Psa 82:3-4</a>; <a href='B:230 113:7'>Psa 113:7</a>). It is our personal experience of needing grace which leads us to have a heart for those like us, the poor and needy. Any other motivation will ultimately not abide. Solomon appears to glorify his mother Bathsheba for likewise pitying the poor and needy (<a href='B:240 31:9'>Pro 31:9</a>; <a href='B:240 31:20'>Pro 31:20</a>).</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>He will redeem their soul from oppression and violence, their blood will be precious in his sight-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The Hebrew word hamas [basically meaning 'physical violence arising from wicked plans'] is quite common in Scripture, and the usages speak of how God is provoked by hamas to bring judgment upon the enemies of His people (<a href='B:10 6:11-13'>Gen 6:11-13</a>; <a href='B:400 6:12'>Mic 6:12</a>; <a href='B:430 1:9'>Zep 1:9</a>) and also to intervene in order to save His people (<a href='B:230 18:49'>Psa 18:49</a>; <a href='B:230 72:14'>Psa 72:14</a>). How amazingly appropriate that an organization actually called hamas has arisen in these last days to do violence to Israel! If Biblical history means anything to us, clearly enough God's intervention in appropriate judgment and salvation cannot be far off. Note how Hagar's persecution of Sarah- typical of the Arab-Jew conflict- is described as her hamas (<a href='B:10 16:5'>Gen 16:5</a>).</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>In <a href='B:230 49:8'>Psa 49:8</a> David had used the same words for how the soul or life of persons should be treated as "precious". Saul used the same phrase of David's saving his life: "My soul was precious in your eyes" [s:w. "life is costly"] (<a href='B:90 26:21'>1Sa 26:21</a>). David is alluding to this; Saul's human life had been precious or costly to him, but he was unable to redeem Saul eternally. Only God could do that, if Saul by faith accepted God's grace. David wished that Solomon would have the same perspective, considering the soul or life of people to be "precious" or "costly", appreciating the value and meaning of human persons. But sadly Solomon abused his people later, as it were whipping them with whiPsa.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>They shall live, and to him shall be given of the gold of Sheba. Men shall pray for him continually, they shall bless him all day long-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The idea is that because the poor and needy would be allowed to "live" and would be treated with justice and grace (:14), Sheba would give her gold and continual prayer be made for the king. It was usual that conquered peoples were forced to pray to the gods of their conquerors, and to give their gold. But as noted on :10,11, the growth of this Kingdom of God would be on a quite different basIsa. Peoples would be awed by the grace displayed, and would voluntarily come to worship Israel's God, acting as if they had indeed been conquered by Him- but by His love and grace, rather than His sword.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Abundance of grain shall be throughout the land, its fruit sways like Lebanon. Let it flourish, thriving like the grass of the field!<strong>- </strong></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>As a result of just kingship, the blessings for obedience to the covenant would come about, in terms of agricultural fecundity. "Abundance of grain" recalls the situation in the seven years of plenty in Egypt, the implication being that this grain would be shared with the Gentile world around them, in order to lead them to Israel's God.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>His name endures forever, his name continues as long as the sun-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Again David is imagining Solomon ruling eternally, but without due regard for the results of sin and the need for the grace of resurrection and forgiveness. And it was surely Yahweh's Name which should have been spoken of in this way and not Solomon's.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Men shall be blessed in him, all nations will call him blessed-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The allusion is to the Abrahamic promise of <a href='B:10 18:18'>Gen 18:18</a>: "All the nations of the earth will be blessed in him". But the promise about Abraham personally and his seed is too quickly assumed by David to be relevant to Solomon personally. There is an intended ambiguity in the grammar, as to whether "be blessed" is purely a prediction, or a command- to chose to become blessed in him. That choice is now made in terms of choosing to be baptized into the Lord Jesus, the true seed of Abraham, so that we might receive the blessing of forgiveness and life eternal inheriting the earth (<a href='B:510 3:25-26'>Act 3:25-26</a>; <a href='B:550 3:27-29'>Gal 3:27-29</a>).</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Praise be to Yahweh God, the God of Israel, who alone does marvellous deeds-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This is an invitation for the "nations" of :17 to praise the God of Israel, not because they have been forcefully subjugated, but because they recognize that He is the one and only God, who can do such marvellous things as restoring His sinful people.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Blessed be His glorious name forever! Let the whole earth be filled with His glory! Amen and amen-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>As noted on :18 this is David's desire that the entire eretz promised to Abraham be filled with peoples who genuinely wish to bless the name of Israel's God and thereby give glory to Him.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Book III. A Psalm by Asaph-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This "Asaph" could be the Asaph of Hezekiah's time (<a href='B:290 36:3'>Isa 36:3</a>) who used the Psalms in the context of the events of the Assyrian invasion. The Asaph Psalms all have parts in them relevant to that context (Psalms 50, 73-83). Or the "Asaph" may have been the singers who were relatives of Asaph, prominent at the restoration (<a href='B:160 7:44'>Neh 7:44</a>; <a href='B:160 11:17'>Neh 11:17</a>; <a href='B:160 11:22'>Neh 11:22</a>). It could mean that the psalms were a part of a collection from the Asaphites, and the name "Asaph" was therefore simply used to identify the temple singers. And again, parts of the Asaph psalms also have relevance to the restoration. The fact the Asaph Psalms speak of elohim rather than Yahweh would support the idea that they were used in the exilic / restoration period. But Asaph was the "chief" of the Levites to whom David assigned the ministry of praise before the ark (<a href='B:130 16:4-5'>1Ch 16:4-5</a>). It seems he did compose his own Psalms, which were used by Hezekiah at his time (<a href='B:140 29:30'>2Ch 29:30</a>). So I would again suggest that all the Asaph Psalms were composed originally by David "for" [not necessarily "by"] Asaph, but were rewritten and edited for later occasions.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>A case can be made that the whole of book 3 of the Psalter (Psalms 73-89) was written / edited in Babylon. The Psalms of Korah (83-87) seem to reflect the longing of the righteous remnant in Babylon for the temple services. And it is just possible that the entire Psalter was re-edited there in Babylon, under inspiration- for so many Psalms have elements of appropriacy to the exiles in Babylon and the restoration. The LXX titles of Psalms 56 [“Concerning the people that were removed from the Sanctuary”] and 71 [“Of the sons of Jonadab, and the first that were taken captive”] speak for themselves. Likewise the LXX attributes Psalms 146-148 to Haggai and Zechariah.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Surely God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This redefines "Israel" away from ethnic definition; the Israel of God are the "pure in heart". This Psalm may initially have been David's thanksgiving for God's restoration of his kingdom after the rebellion of Absalom. It describes a struggle with the problem of evil, but begins and ends with triumph that God ultimately is good to Israel. This was particularly relevant to Judah in captivity. But again we query why David so simplistically divides people into the very righteous, of pure heart [which none have ultimately], and the worst sinners.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>But as for me, my feet were almost gone, my steps had nearly slipped-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>David recognizes that his steps and feet had been stabilized by God (s:w. <a href='B:230 40:2'>Psa 40:2</a>). He saw God's active involvement in helping him see through the problem of evil, and praises God for it. This internal psychological stabilizing of faith and understanding is just as much seen today, through God's work through the Holy Spirit.</p>


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<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>For I was envious of the arrogant, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>David had calmly urged not to be envious of the wicked (s:w. <a href='B:230 37:1'>Psa 37:1</a>), but he himself almost failed in this (<a href='B:230 73:3'>Psa 73:3</a> s:w:). We can profess clearly how much we are not envious of others; and then find ourselves like David, caught in a pang of crisis when we wonder why our lives cannot be like those of the world around us. Solomon simplistically commanded not to be envious of the wicked, drawing a simple contrast between the wicked, and the righteous who are not envious of them (<a href='B:240 3:31'>Pro 3:31</a>; <a href='B:240 23:17'>Pro 23:17</a>; <a href='B:240 24:1'>Pro 24:1</a>; <a href='B:240 24:19'>Pro 24:19</a> s:w:). But this is not how it was in reality with his father David, who admits to almost having given in to envy of the wicked (<a href='B:230 73:3'>Psa 73:3</a>) despite his earlier simplistic condemnation of such envy (<a href='B:230 37:1'>Psa 37:1</a>), and was only saved from that by God's gracious action on his heart (<a href='B:230 73:2'>Psa 73:2</a>). Solomon's proverbs seem to fail to address this complexity of situations because of his own self-righteousness; and yet all he says is inspired and true so far as it goes.</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>For there are no struggles in their death, but their strength is firm-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>"Firm" is the word used of the prosperous wicked amongst the exiles (<a href='B:330 34:20'>Eze 34:20</a>). But as Ezekiel points out, this was only a temporary illusion. Ultimately, death is indeed a fetter (s:w. "struggles"), broken only by God's grace in Christ. The Psalmist is for a moment forgetting the Biblical picture of death, just as we can.</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>They are free from the burdens of men, neither are they plagued like other men-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'><a href='B:50 26:7'>Deu 26:7</a> uses the word for "burdens" of the judgment of those who break covenant. And God is not unmindful of who breaks covenant with Him. David had earlier confidently stated that the "mischief" (s:w. "burdens") of men would return upon their own heads at death and judgment (<a href='B:230 7:16'>Psa 7:16</a>; <a href='B:230 140:9'>Psa 140:9</a>). But in <a href='B:230 73:5'>Psa 73:5</a> he momentarily doubts thIsa. Our understanding of basic truths can suddenly be eclipsed by moments of doubt, just as we see happening with the disciples on the lake during the storm.</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Therefore pride is like a chain around their neck, violence covers them like a garment-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The conclusion therefore is that awareness of the reality of death leads to humility, and those who refuse to perceive Divine judgment in this life become proud and violent, believing they will not face judgment for their actions. Chains were worn around the neck by leaders and governors (we think of Joseph and Daniel being given one); so the implication is that such men were in leadership positions within Israel. Perhaps David has in view Saul and the Absalom-Ahithophel group.</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Their eyes bulge with fat, their minds pass the limits of conceit-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This recalls the spirit of Job's complaints at the present prosperity of the wicked. "Conceit" is the word usually translated "image", with reference to idols. David perceives that idolatry is essentially a matter of the heart, and he sees materialism as idolatry- a conception absolutely relevant to our age.</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>They scoff and speak with malice; in arrogance, they threaten oppression-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The LXX appears to reference the crafty counsel of Ahithophel at the time of Absalom's rebellion: "They have taken counsel and spoken in wickedness: they have uttered unrighteousness loftily".</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>They have set their mouth in the heavens, their tongue walks through the earth-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The idea may be that they speak as if they are God; it is playing God which is the basis for arrogance and price. But LXX has "Against the heavens".</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Therefore their people return to them, and they drink up waters of abundance-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>"A metaphor for the enjoyment of pleasure". This was how they got people to turn after them, to follow them. David felt that by contrast he had few followers because he didn't have any great hope of prosperity to offer anyone.</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>They say, How does God know? Is there knowledge in the Most High?<strong>- </strong></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>It's unlikely they actually said those words. But this is an example of where the unspoken implications of positions are stated for what they effectively are. To accept God exists, as these men apparently did, but to say that He has no awareness::. is self contradictory. But this is what their attitudes effectively stated.</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Behold, these are the wicked-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The Psalmist has built up an image of wicked men having a great life and then dying in peace. This isn't actually the case, but it was and is the image which can be imagined as true.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Being always at ease, they increase in riches-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The wicked and indeed nobody is every "always at ease". This is the idealized image which the doubting psalmist had built up. It is the same false image offered by the media and subliminal advertising today.</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Surely in vain I have cleansed my heart, and washed my hands in innocence-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This language is appropriate to David who considers he washed the blood of Uriah from his hands by repentance, and had his heart cleansed by God's grace for the entire sin with Bathsheba (s:w. <a href='B:230 51:4'>Psa 51:4</a>; <a href='B:230 26:6'>Psa 26:6</a>). He would be suggesting that because he still suffered the consequence of the sin, all his cleansing from it was pointless grief. And yet this sense that "In vain I have cleansed my heart" could refer to how David in his youth had tried to cleanse his way according to God's word (s:w. <a href='B:230 119:9'>Psa 119:9</a>); and now he momentarily considers he may have wasted his effort. Solomon uses the same word in saying that nobody can say "I have cleansed my heart" (<a href='B:240 20:9'>Pro 20:9</a>); as if disagreeing with his father David on this point. Solomon may be suggesting that all you can do is live an externally clean life, you can never cleanse your heart- and this refusal to allow the Holy Spirit to cleanse him inwardly is what led to his apostasy. For disregarding deep, core level spiritual mindedness and trusting in externalities::. is a sure path to spiritual disaster. And Solomon took it.</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>for all day long have I been plagued, and punished every morning-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>"Punished" is LXX "reproved". David may again be railing at how the consequences of his sin with Bathsheba continued, reproving him every morning. He struggled to accept Nathan's inspired words about this consequence. "Plagued" is used in the Bathsheba context (<a href='B:230 32:6'>Psa 32:6</a> s:w:).</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>If I had said, I will speak thus; behold, I would have betrayed the generation of Your children-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>LXX "I should have broken covenant with the generation of thy children". He would no longer have been part of the promised seed if he chose to go the way of the wicked.</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>When I tried to understand this, it was too painful for me-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'> "Painful" is s:w. "trouble" in :5. The wicked appear not to have pain or "troubles", but David struggled with the whole problem of evil and the apparent prosperity of the wicked, and this was a pain or trouble to him of itself. David was generally a very spiritual man, but we have here an insight into how even the most spiritually minded have their dark nights of the soul:&nbsp;</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>until I entered God’s sanctuary, and considered their latter end-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This could not have been true for the exiles, who were unable to do thIsa. The Psalm originated with David, but was reapplied to the exiles and all who later would struggle with the problem of the apparent prosperity of the wicked. On entering "the sanctuary", he saw the plates around the altar which were all that was left of Korah’s rebellion (<a href='B:40 16:38'>Num 16:38</a>), those who were thrown down into the earth (:18). David perceived the wicked of his age as no better than the wicked within Israel during the wilderness journey.</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Surely You set them in slippery places, You threw them down to destruction-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This continues the allusion to the fate of Korah and his supporters (:17). "Thrown down" or "fall" was to be the fate of the unjust princes of Israel (s:w. <a href='B:230 82:7'>Psa 82:7</a>) just as it had been the fate of Korah and the princes with him (<a href='B:40 16:2'>Num 16:2</a>).</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>How they were suddenly destroyed! They were completely swept away with terrors-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The lament is that the wicked seem to be so prosperous, and then David remembers that one day God will awake (:20). But it is ridiculous to think that God is now actually asleep. The judgment of the rebellious princes in Numbers 16 is seen as a pattern for all later rebels; and perhaps David has in view the rebels against him at the time of Absalom. The wages of sin is death (<a href='B:520 6:23'>Rom 6:23</a>)- not 'it will be death at the judgment', it is right now the response God makes to sin. Because God is without time, the judgment has effectively happened to them. We are come to "God the judge of all"- even now (<a href='B:650 12:23'>Heb 12:23</a>). And David perceived that. And yet mourned terribly when actually this happened, and Absalom was suddenly destroyed.</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>As a dream when one wakes up, so, Lord, when You awake, You will despise their fantasies-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>LXX "O Lord, in thy city thou wilt despise their image". David envisages judgment day being administered in Zion, when these men would be resurrected, judged, and die "the second death". To be despised by God is judgment enough. Their "fantasies", their self image (the Hebrew implies) will be revealed as vain.</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>For my soul was grieved, I was embittered in my heart-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>AV "Thus my heart was grieved" - for the tragedy of that rebellion, for the tragedy of men experiencing Divine condemnation. He didn’t gloat over the punishment of the wicked as he thinks about it at this point, although he does elsewhere. He grieved for it; it pricked his conscience, right within the depths of his being (AV "pricked in my reins").</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>I was so senseless and ignorant; I was a brute beast before You-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The LXX sounds very much like an allusion to Job in his final realization and resolution of 'the problem of evil': "But I was vile and knew not: I became brutish before thee" (cp. <a href='B:220 40:4'>Job 40:4</a>). Envying the wicked is indeed being senseless and ignorant, and David uses these terms elsewhere about those who shall be condemned (<a href='B:230 49:10'>Psa 49:10</a>; <a href='B:230 92:6'>Psa 92:6</a>). The fact is, even those as spiritual as David can at times be totally unspiritual in their perspective, and like him need to take a grip and return to reality. We surely have all known thIsa.</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Nevertheless, I am continually with You. You have held my right hand-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>As noted on :22, David recognizes that he has temporarily lost perspective and spiritual focus during his time of envy at the wicked's prosperity. But he marvels that all through that weak period, be it minutes or months, God had remained with him and held his hand. This rules out for all time the attitude of separation from God's people whilst they pass through the dark nights of the soul which afflict all of us. We are to reflect God's continuance with us through it all.</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>You will guide me with Your word-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>"Your word" probably doesn't refer to the "Bible", because David would probably only have known the Pentateuch and Job. And he didn't have the scrolls readily available to him for much of his life. Perhaps the prophetic word he had in view was the promise of restoration and kingship, the final flourishing of his kingdom. This was the same word which in essence the exiles were to be guided by as they too struggled with the problems of justice and evil. And the end point of that guidance was to be "glory"; perhaps a return to the sanctuary where the glory was visible, or the glory of the reestablished Davidic kingdom.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>And afterwards receive me in glory-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>In this life, David felt his prayers had been "received" (s:w. <a href='B:230 6:9'>Psa 6:9</a>). His experience of answered prayer was therefore a foretaste of his faith that God would finally receive or accept him (<a href='B:230 49:15'>Psa 49:15</a>; <a href='B:230 73:24'>Psa 73:24</a> s:w:). The desire to be received "to glory" may refer to David's belief that he would again be able to enter the sanctuary and see God's glory there, a desire he so often expresses in the exilic Psalms.</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Whom do I have in heaven? There is no one on earth whom I desire besides You-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>David felt forsaken by all at this time, so the origin of the Psalm (however it was later reused by the exiles) was at a time when he was largely forsaken by men; perhaps at the time of Absalom's putsch. For David, Yahweh was not one of a number of deities; he didn't believe in Yahweh as well as idols. And this is a theme he develops in :27.</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>My flesh and my heart fails-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Perhaps initially written in David's health crisis after the sin with Bathsheba and whilst on the run from Absalom.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>There is a repeated Biblical theme that the believer's relationship with the Father too is essentially mutual. We are God's portion / inheritance (<a href='B:50 4:20'>Deu 4:20</a>; <a href='B:50 9:29'>Deu 9:29</a>; <a href='B:560 1:18'>Eph 1:18</a>), and He is our inheritance (<a href='B:230 16:5-6'>Psa 16:5-6</a>; <a href='B:230 73:26'>Psa 73:26</a>; <a href='B:310 3:22-24'>Lam 3:22-24</a>; <a href='B:560 1:11'>Eph 1:11</a> RV); we inherit each other. David felt he was alienated from his rightful inheritance whilst on the run from both Saul and Absalom; and the exiles felt likewise.</p>


text:
<p style='margin-left:1:415em'></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>For, behold, those who are far from You shall perish. You have destroyed all those who are unfaithful to You-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This helps the exiles understand that distance from God is not a geographical question of being far from the sanctuary, but such distance and closeness to God is rather a spiritual matter. "Unfaithful" suggests idolatry (s:w. <a href='B:230 106:39'>Psa 106:39</a>), and suggests that the wicked he had envied were in fact idolaters. If the initial context of the Psalm is Absalom's rebellion, then we can see another hint that they too were involved with idolatry.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>A contemplation by Asaph-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This "Asaph" could be the Asaph of Hezekiah's time (<a href='B:290 36:3'>Isa 36:3</a>) who used the Psalms in the context of the events of the Assyrian invasion. The Asaph Psalms all have parts in them relevant to that context (Psalms 50, 73-83). Or the "Asaph" may have been the singers who were relatives of Asaph, prominent at the restoration (<a href='B:160 7:44'>Neh 7:44</a>; <a href='B:160 11:17'>Neh 11:17</a>; <a href='B:160 11:22'>Neh 11:22</a>). It could mean that the psalms were a part of a collection from the Asaphites, and the name "Asaph" was therefore simply used to identify the temple singers. And again, parts of the Asaph psalms also have relevance to the restoration. The fact the Asaph Psalms speak of elohim rather than Yahweh would support the idea that they were used in the exilic / restoration period. But Asaph was the "chief" of the Levites to whom David assigned the ministry of praise before the ark (<a href='B:130 16:4-5'>1Ch 16:4-5</a>). It seems he did compose his own Psalms, which were used by Hezekiah at his time (<a href='B:140 29:30'>2Ch 29:30</a>). So I would again suggest that all the Asaph Psalms were composed originally by David "for" [not necessarily "by"] Asaph, but were rewritten and edited for later occasions.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>God, why have You rejected us forever?- </p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>It was inappropriate to claim that God was going to reject His people forever (also in <a href='B:230 44:23'>Psa 44:23</a>). The prophets had made it abundantly plain that God would not reject forever. Israel had "the hope of Israel" as surely as the planets are in the sky:&nbsp;</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Why does Your anger smoulder against the sheep of Your pasture?<strong>- </strong></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The answer was 'Because they sinned'. But as David struggled to accept the consequences of his sins, so did the exiles.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Remember Your congregation which You purchased of old, which You have redeemed to be the tribe of Your inheritance-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This appeal to believe they were already "redeemed" is similar to how David asks for redemption (e:g. <a href='B:230 69:18'>Psa 69:18</a>) when in fact he has already been redeemed. God had already forgiven David, ransoming and redeeming him. But he was left to suffer the consequences of those sins, and because of that, in crisis he starts to wonder whether he has indeed been forgiven. And we can do the same so easily. The consequence of sin is death, and we can squirm against this when we or others face it::. forgetting the wonder of the fact that we are indeed redeemed and ransomed from the power of the grave, although we must still take the consequences. The exiles likewise had to understand that they had been redeemed (s:w. <a href='B:230 74:2'>Psa 74:2</a>) but were suffering the consequence of sin. God was indeed their redeemer (<a href='B:290 41:14'>Isa 41:14</a>; <a href='B:290 43:1'>Isa 43:1</a> s:w:). At the very end of his life, David realized that he had in fact been redeemed (s:w. <a href='B:110 1:29'>1Ki 1:29</a>). He could give up his spirit to God in death, knowing that He was redeemed from the power of the grave (s:w. <a href='B:230 31:5'>Psa 31:5</a>; <a href='B:230 49:15'>Psa 49:15</a>). His sure hope in the resurrection of the body looked ahead to the attitude with which the Lord Jesus died.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The Psalm however clearly applies to the exile, when Judah, the singular tribe, was sent into captivity; the ten tribe kingdom had already gone to Assyria.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Mount Zion, in which You have lived-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Relevant to the exiles, in that Yahweh was no longer living in Zion, the cherubim of glory had departed, as Ezekiel had seen in vision.</p>


text:
<h2>Lift up Your feet on the perpetual ruins-</h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>LXX "Lift up thine hands against their pride continually", which connects better with the second half of the verse.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>See all the evil that the enemy has done in the sanctuary-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The evil done in the sanctuary had been done by God; this evil was ultimately from God, although the exiles struggled to believe that (<a href='B:290 45:5-7'>Isa 45:5-7</a>). Therefore He was obviously aware of it. It was their refusal to accept that God had been their enemy and had done the "evil" which led them to later feel He was somehow unaware of it.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Your adversaries have roared in the midst of Your assembly. They have set up their standards as signs-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This speaks of the Babylonian military standards raised in the temple as glory to their idols, repeated by the Romans in AD70. Israel's enemies are likened to wild beasts roaring; and indeed "the beast" is Israel's neighbours, throughout scripture. But the psalmist appears to ignore the repeated prophetic declaration that this would happen because Judah worshipped idols within the sanctuary, as Ezekiel saw in vision. The psalmist sees only one side of the story- the suffering. The reason for it, and the hope of restoration predicated upon repentance, plays no part in his thinking at this point. And we see that attitude all around us, complaints at Divine judgment and the results of human sin, rather than seeing that suffering in wider spiritual and ethical context:&nbsp;</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>They behaved like men wielding axes, cutting through a thicket of trees-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The idea is that there was absolutely no reverence for the sanctity of the temple. And yet Judah had likewise paid no reverence to that, and so they received an appropriate judgment.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Now they break all its carved work down with hatchet and hammers-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>LXX "stonecutters". There was a wilful and intentional destruction of the temple. The "carved work" is that of the cherubim and palm trees (s:w. <a href='B:110 6:29'>1Ki 6:29</a>), broken down because it was overlaid with gold (<a href='B:110 6:22'>1Ki 6:22</a>; <a href='B:110 6:32'>1Ki 6:32</a>; <a href='B:110 6:35'>1Ki 6:35</a>):&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>They have burned Your sanctuary to the ground, they have profaned the dwelling place of Your Name-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>This burning of the temple by Nebuchadnezzar is recorded in <a href='B:120 25:9'>2Ki 25:9</a>; <a href='B:140 36:19'>2Ch 36:19</a>. The psalmist complains that "they" had done this, whereas the more spiritual perspective was that God had done these things (<a href='B:310 2:6'>Lam 2:6</a>; <a href='B:310 4:1'>Lam 4:1</a>) as judgment for Judah's sins. All that is said is true, but lacks humility and spiritual perspective.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>They said in their heart, We will crush them completely. They have burned up all the places in the land where God was worshiped-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>But Yahweh was to be worshipped in Zion. It was the "high places" built ostensibly to worship Him, which had become the places of idolatry for which God's anger came upon His people This is quite overlooked by the writer. But LXX has "They have said in their heart, even all their kindred together, Come, let us abolish the feasts of the Lord from the earth".</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>We see no miraculous signs. There is no longer any prophet, neither is there among us anyone who knows how long-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Again this was not quite the case. There was a ministry of the true prophets throughout the siege and destruction of Jerusalem, and Ezekiel and others continued the witness afterwards. But this is overlooked in the desire of the author to focus upon the negative and pain as dismal a picture as possible. There were "signs"; for Jeremiah and Ezekiel were men of sign to the Jews. LXX "and God will not know us any more" was a complete denial of the prophetic pleas to know God in repentance, and the clear hope of restoration offered.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>How long, God, shall the adversary reproach? Shall the enemy blaspheme Your name forever?<strong>- </strong></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The answer to that question is provided in the prophets. It would be until Judah repented. And yet the psalmist overlooks that dimension completely. Just as we can so easily:&nbsp;</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Why do You draw back Your hand, even Your right hand? Take it out of Your pocket and consume them!<strong>- </strong></p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Again as on :10, the answer was that God's hand would again be seen active for His people once they repented. But typical of the secular view, the psalmist expects immediate action from God right now, regardless of any spiritual dimension to the basis of His operations with men.</p>


text:
<h2></h2><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>Yet God is my King of old, working salvation in the midst of the earth-</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>The midst of the land was Zion, and there He had done great miracles at the time of Hezekiah- which the psalmist believes can be repeated. The tone of the Psalm changes now. The Psalmist has not made a good case in the preceding verses, as noted above. He is simply demanding immediate release from the exile. Although he is spiritually deficient in failing to factor in Israel's sin and the need for repentance, he all the same has a strong personal faith. Whether or not God comes through for His people on a larger scale, "God is my king". And here we have an example for us all. Our struggle with the problem of evil must not be allowed to take away God's salvation history; His apparent failure to save whom and when and how we think He should must never take away from our personal faith in Him.</p><p style='margin-left:1:415em'>We also learn here that a man like this psalmist who may be deficient in attitude and understanding (as witnessed in the notes above on :2-11) may still have genuine faith before God.</p>


